B 
*fc''-'-- 
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(LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO        • 


SREE    KRISHNA 


THE     LORD    OF     LOVE 


PART  I. 


SREE  KRISHNA 


THE    LORD    OF    LOVE 


BY 


BABA  PREMANAND  BHARATI 


PUBLISHED  BY 


THE  KRISHNA  SAMAJ 

NEW    YORK 


Copyright  1904 

BY 
BABA    PREMANAND    BHARATI 


S.     L.     PA1SONS    It    CO.,    PRINTERS,    NEW    YORK 


To 

BRAHMANAND    BHARATI 
MY    GOOROO 

To   WHOM 
MY  SOUL  Mnro  AND  BODY 

ARE 
IRREVOCABLY  SOLD 

IN    PAYMENT    OF 

THE    GRACE    OF   HIS    ILLUMINATION 
WHICH   LIGHTED  MY   PATH 

To 
THE   LOTUS   FEET 

OF 

KRISHNA  MY   BELOVED 


PREFACE 

I  BEG  to  present  this  my  humble  work  to  the 
English  reader.  It  is  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
verse from  its  birth  to  its  dissolution.  I  have 
explained  the  science  of  creation,  its  making 
and  its  mechanism.  In  doing  so  I  have  drawn 
my  information  from  the  recorded  facts  in 
the  Sacred  Books  of  the  Root-Race  of  man- 
kind. Some  facts  and  explanations  are  herein 
furnished  for  the  first  time  in  any  modern 
language.  This  book  embodies  true  Hinduism. 
If  read  with  an  open  mind,  it  will  serve  the 
reader  with  illumination  and  solve  many  a 
riddle  of  life,  untie  many  a  tangle  of  thought. 
I  have  spoken  throughout  from  out  of  the 
depths  of  the  ages.  I  have  thought  absolutely 
in  Sanscrit  and  expressed  myself  in  English, 
an  imperfect  medium  for  expressing  Sanscrit, 
ideas.  My  object  has  been  to  impress  my 
readers  with  the  substance  of  Hindoo  thought 
in  all  its  purity.  This  has  not  been  done  before 
even  by  Hindoo  writers  on  Hindoo  religion 


PREFACE. 

and  philosophy.  They  have  cared  to  humor 
the  Western  readers,  by  putting  in  a  mixture 
of  Western  thought  and  dressing  it  up  in  West- 
ern ways  of  expression.  I  Rave  not  done  so, 
because  I  know  that  in  reading  an  Eastern 
book  the  Western  mind  wants  purely  Eastern 
thought  in  pure  Eastern  dress. 

This  will  afford  all  soul-hungry  readers  with 
enough  healthy  food  and  drink.  The  first 
part  of  the  book  contains  the  food,  the  Kernel 
of  the  Soul-cocoanut ;  the  second  part,  its 
Sweet  Milk.  The  third  part  is  from  Krishna 
Himself.  It  is  the  purest  Nectar  of  Spiritual 
Love.  Let  the  reader  open  his  heart  to  it,  and 
I  am  sure  it  will  fill  it  with  ecstasy.  The  soul- 
ful reader  will  thrill  with  the  joyous  vibrations 
of  every  sentence  of  the  "Messages  and  Rev- 
elations." 

The  belief  that  our  life  begins  with  the  birth 
of  this  physical  body  and  ends  with  its  death 
is  the  worst  superstition,  because  it  is  the 
worst  obstacle  in  the  way  of  our  soul's  un- 
foldment.  This  life  has  sprung  from  Eternity ; 
it  draws  its  breath  in  Eternity,  and  is  finally 


ii 


PREFACE. 

absorbed  by  Eternity  which  is  Absolute  Love. 
To  know  that  we,  human  beings,  were  never 
blessed  with  greater  powers  than  we  possess 
in  this  age  is  the  saddest  of  mistakes.  To  be- 
lieve that  we  were  once  as  great  and  powerful 
as  divine  beings  and  that  we  can  recover  that 
greatness  and  those  powers,  is  to  believe  in  the 
actual  potentialities  of  the  human  mind.  This 
life  can  be  made  one  long  ecstatic  song;  this 
life  can,  if  we  take  the  trouble  to  make  it,  be 
made  the  source  of  joy  to  ourselves  as  well  as 
to  all  around  us  forever  and  ever ;  it  can  even 
attain  to  the  Essence  of  Godhood,  from  which  it 
has  sprung,  by  developing  uninterrupted  God- 
Consciousness. 

We  all  are  idolaters.  Some  of  us  worship 
idols  of  Divinity,  others  worship  idols  of 
Matter.  Some  of  us  worship  the  Spirit 
through  suggestive  signs  and  symbols,  others 
worship  Flesh,  mere  forms  of  animated  flesh. 
Sinqe  our  mind  wants  idols  for  worship,  just 
as  our  body  wants  food  for  sustenance,  let  us 
all  worship  idols  of  Spirit  in  Form.,  Through 
its  concrete  Form-Centre  we  can  enter  into 


ni 


PREFACE. 

the  Abstract  Spirit  of  Love — Love  which  is 
our  one  object  and  goal  in  life.  This  Love 
is  Krishna  and  the  universe  and  we,  its  parts, 
are  the  materialized  manifestation  of  that  Love. 

PREMANAND  BHARATI. 

THE  ALPINE,  55  WEST  33o  STREET, 
New  York,  July  7,  1904. 


IV 


CONTENTS    OF    PART    I. 

INTRODUCTORY.  PAGE. 

Life's  Source  and  Search 5 

God  is  Formless  and  Has  a  Form 17 

SECTION  I.  The  Concrete  and  Abstract  God 30 

SECTION  II.  The  Science  of  Creation 41 

SECTION  III.  The  Steps  of  Creation 50 

SECTION  IV.    The  Cyclic  Motion  of  Changes. ...     56 

SECTION  V.  The  Golden  Age 64 

SECTION  VI.  The  Silver  Age 91 

SECTION  VII.  The   Caste   System 104 

SECTION  VIII.  The  Four  Stages  of  Life 123 

SECTION  IX.  The  Copper  Age 132 

SECTION  X.  The  Iron  Age 145 

SECTION  XI.  Manwantara  or  the  Deluge 170 

SECTION  XII.  The  Kalpa  Cycle 180 

SECTION  XIII.  Natural    Dissolution 194 

SECTION  XIV.  Modern    Scientific   Testimony. . .  .   199 

SECTION  XV.  Science  Upholds  Shastras 209 

SECTION  XVI.  Physical  and  Astral  Bodies 219 

SECTION  XVII.  Karma    223 

SECTION  XVIII.  Reincarnation    234 

SECTION  XIX.  How  to  Destroy  Karma 250 

SECTION  XX.  The  Atom's  Return  Journey 256 

SECTION  XXI.  Yoga   272 

SECTION  XXII.  Bhakti    Yoga 272 

SECTION  XXIII.  Vaishnav,  Christian  of  Christians  285 
SECTION  XXIV.  Krishna  Leela 295 


INTRODUCTORY. 


LIFE'S  SOURCE  AND  SEARCH. 

BELOVED!  I  wish  to  call  you  "my  beloved," 
whoever  you  are  who  have  taken  up  this 
my  love-messagfe  to  read,  for  you  are  the 
beloved  of  my  Beloved — Krishna.  I  may  not 
know  you,  nor  you  me,  and  yet  we  have  been 
together  times  without  number;  yet  we  have 
loved  each  other  with  the  truest,  the  purest, 
the  sweetest  love  again  and  again,  when  we 
lived  in  Love,  when  we  had  our  being  in  the 
Ocean  of  Love,  when  we  were  awake  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  One  Essence  which  ever 
pervades  us  all — Love. 

Beloved !  That  state,  that  realm,  in  which 
we  lived  and  knew  and  loved  each  other,  we 
have  forgotten,  and  this  forgetfulness  is  the 
cause  of  our  separateness,  our  non-recogni- 
tion, our  want  of  sympathy,  our  troubles  and 
quarrels.  Going  into  the  depth  of  Silence — 
Silence  within  and  without  us — I  have  dis- 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

covered  its  Secret  which  is  also  the  Secret 
of  our  forgotten  Love-Existence.  And  this 
my  message  to  you  is  the  revelation  of  that 
mystery  which  our  strayed  soul  is  trying  to 
solve  through  every  effort  of  the  life  we  are 
living  now. 

Beloved !  I  humbly  lay  before  you  this  mes- 
sage to  read — to  help  you  to  recognize  your 
true  self,  to  help  you  to  find  your  true  goal  in 
this  life's  race.  This  message  is  a  magic  mir- 
ror in  which,  maybe,  you  will  catch  the  reflec- 
tion of  your  soul's  All-Beautiful  Image. 

You  are  now  engaged,  my  beloved,  in  read- 
ing this  message  with  the  same  object  for 
which  every  one  of  us  is  just  now  engaged  in 
doing  various  things.  It  is  life's  one  common 
object  for  us  all — Pleasure.  That  is  the  one 
all-absorbing  quest  of  humanity,  nay,  of  all 
living  creatures,  of  all  creation.  We  are  ever 
striving,  all  of  us,  every  minute,  to  find  that 
one  blessing  which  ever  eludes  our  grasp,  ever 
misses  our  ken,  ever  deludes  us  like  the  will-o'- 
the-wisp — the  one  object  of  our  desire,  of 
predominant,  spontaneous,  practical,  natural 
interest — Unmixed,  Unbroken  Happiness. 
6 


INTRODUCTORY. 

Not  only  is  this  quest  for  happiness  ever 
present  within  mankind,  but  also  in  lower  ani- 
mals, and  even  in  every  phase  of  Nature,  more 
or  less  pronounced  or  discernible.  Every  mani- 
festation of  Nature,  man  or  beast,  bird  or  tree 
or  plant,  is  ever  endeavoring  to  adjust  a  state 
of  internal  disorder  and  disturbance — I  mean 
ever  endeavoring  to  bring  about  a  sense 
or  instinct  of  that  harmonious  equilibrium, 
which  we  call  Full  Satisfaction,  Complete 
Contentment,  Absolute  Happiness. 

Now  the  question  may  be  asked:  Why  is 
this  universal  quest  for  happiness?  How  is 
it  that  every  man  or  woman  or  child  is  every 
minute  seeking  some  sort  of  happiness  or 
other?  The  Hindoo  sages  have  answered  this 
question  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  intelligent 
human  beings.  Why  is  this  eternal  search  for 
happiness  ? 

That  answer  is:  Because  the  whole  unf- 
verse,  of  which  we  are  parts,  has  come  out  of 
that  Eternal  Abode  of  Happiness,  called  Bliss, 
where  it  had  dwelt  before  creation,  like  a  tree 
in  a  seed,  and  the  memory  of  which  dwells 
still  in  the  inner  consciousness  of  all  created 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

beings,   though   it  has   dropped   out  of   their 
outer  consciousness. 

That  abode  of  happiness  is  called  the  Abode 
of  Absolute  Love ;  the  Hindoo  calls  it  Krishna. 
Th5>  word  Krishna,  in  Sanscrit,  comes  from 
the  foot  "karsha" — to  draw.  Krishna  means 
that  which  draws  us  to  Itself ;  and  what  in  the 
world  draws  us  all  more  powerfully  than 
Love?  It  is  the  "gravitation"  of  the  modern 
scientist.  It  is  the  one  source  and  substance 
of  all  magnetism,  of  all  attraction ;  and  when 
that  love  is  absolutely  pure,  its  power  to  draw 
is  absolute,  too. 

In  seeking  even  material  pleasure  or  happi- 
ness through  life  we  are  ever  seeking  this  Ab- 
solute Bliss,  only  most  of  us  do  not  know  it. 
The  man  who  devotes  his  heart  and  soul  to 
acquiring  wealth  is,  in  fact,  but  striving  to  at- 
tain this  blissful  state.  For  what  does  the 
would-be  millionaire  work  to  make  the  million 
but  to  secure  pleasure,  the  pleasure  of  good 
eating,  good  drinking,  good  living,  good  en- 
joyment— to  be  happy?  He  makes  the  mil- 
lion ;  but  the  happiness  which  he  secures,  by 
securing  the  means  of  pleasure  and  by  enjoy- 


INTRODUCTORY. 

ing  the  pleasures  themselves,  is  not  complete. 
He  still  feels  some  void  in  that  happiness, 
something  still  wanting  in  those  pleasures  to 
make  him  fully  happy.  He  therefore  piles  up 
more  millions,  he  plunges  into  newer  pleas- 
ures, he  leaves  no  stone  unturned  to  find  the 
material  objects  which  will  add  to  his  pleas- 
ure ;  and  when  he  has  secured  all  these  objects 
and  enjoyed  them,  he  finds  himself  exactly  at 
the  same  place  where  he  was  before — there  is 
something  still  wanting  to  make  him  com- 
pletely happy.  Finding  no  newer  objects 
which  are  likely  to  add  to  his  happiness,  he 
occupies  himself  by  enjoying  what  he  has  al- 
ready enjoyed  over  and  over  again ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  goes  over  again  the  same  round  of 
pleasures  to  delude  himself  into  the  belief  that 
that  is  the  best  happiness  allowed  to  mortal 
man. 

But  the  delusion  is  temporary  and  far  from 
complete.  The  longing,  the  search  for  some- 
thing still  wanting,  is  present  all  through  that 
delusion — something  unknown,  but  which  he 
thinks  he  might  know  and  recognize,  if  he 
once  found  it.  But,  alas,  he  does  not ! 
9 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Poor  Man !  He  does  not  know  the  secret  of 
true  happiness,  the  happiness  which  is  com- 
plete in  itself,  which  never  ends,  which,  once 
secured,  never  falls  short  or  vanishes,  which 
flows  from  within  the  heart  through  all  the 
channels  of  the  body,  out  through  the  pores 
of  it  in  a  continual  stream  of  ecstasy.  He  does 
not  know  that  this  thing,  this  unending  hap- 
piness,  is  not  to  be  found  in  material  objects; 
that  it  cannot  be  secured  by  the  means  or  by 
the  instincts  of  the  physical  senses,  which 
cognize  only  material  objects. 

And  why?  Why  is  it  that  material  objects 
fail  to  give  us  that  true  and  absolute  happi- 
ness, fail  to  satisfy  the  hunger  of  the  yearn- 
ing human  heart  for  that  unknown  something 
which  it  feels  somehow  must  exist,  but  which 
ever  eludes  its  ken  and  quest,  and  which,  alas ! 
it  does  not  realize  that  it  once  knew,  that 
it  once  owned  by  right  of  heritage? 

The  answer  is  simple,  and  ought  to  be 
convincing  to  every  thoughtful  mind.  The 
answer  is:  Because  material  objects  are 
changeful  in  their  nature  and  principle;  be- 
cause, being  nothing  but  forms  of  changeful- 
10 


INTRODUCTORY. 

ness,  they  do  not  possess  this  permanent,  this 
unchangeable  happiness,  to  give  it  to  those  who 
seek  to  derive  it  from  them.  An  object  whose 
very  principle  is  changefulness  can  afford  noth- 
ing which  is  not  changeful  in  its  nature.  All 
the  pleasures,  therefore,  that  we  derive  from 
material  objects  must  necessarily  be  change- 
ful, which  means  short-lived,  pleasures  of  short 
duration,  broken  pleasure,  distinguished  by  the 
Hindoos  from  unbroken  pleasure,  which,  be- 
cause of  its  unbrokenness  and  ecstatic  taste, 
ceases  to  be  called  pleasure  and  assumes  the 
name  of  Bliss. 

The  question  now  arises,  where  is  this  true 
happiness  to  be  found,  if  it  cannot  be  found 
in  material  objects?  Some  modern  scientists 
call  this  unbroken  happiness  a  delusion  and 
a  snare  of  credulous  humanity.  Modern  sci- 
ence has  done  much,  has  done  wonders  in  this 
Western  world.  None  but  a  fool  will  deny 
the  glory  of  its  brilliant  achievements.  But 
even  among  those  who  admire  the  wonderful 
progress  of  modern  science,  if  there  be  one 
who  fails  to  find  anything  in  these  products 
of  science  which  is  in  any  way  likdy  to  con- 
11 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

tribute  towards  the  attainment  of  contentment 
by  the  human  mind,  that  person  need  not  nec- 
essarily be  a  fool.  Modern  science  has  excited 
our  wonder,  but  has  failed  to  make  us  either 
contented  or  happy — contentment  and  happi- 
ness, which  are  our  eternal  quest,  the  one  ob- 
ject of  our  life,  the  one  goal  to  which  all  cre- 
ation is  running  in  a  blindfolded  race.  It 
should  rather  be  claimed  for  modern  science 
that  it  has  made  its  followers  outward-look- 
ing. It  has  produced  conveniences  and  com- 
forts of  life,  which  have  made  all  people 
hanker  for  them ;  and  many,  failing  to  secure 
them,  make  themselves  discontented  and 
unhappy.  Modern  science,  in  a  word,  has 
served  only  to  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  our 
attempt  to  realize  that  one  object  of  our  exist- 
ence— contentment,  which  affords  true  happi- 
ness. 

This  leads  me  to  repeat  what  I  have  just 
said,  that  no  true  or  all-satisfying  permanent 
happiness  can  be  found  in  material  objects, 
and  hence  the  failure  of  material  scientists  to 
make  humanity  either  contented  or  happy. 

Where  is,  then,  this  happiness  to  be  found? 

12 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  answer  is :  Within  ourselves.  It  can- 
not be  found  in  anything  outside  of  ourselves. 
This  continual  stream  of  happiness  is  flowing 
at  all  times  from  our  heart  of  hearts  all 
through  our  body,  but  we  cannot  perceive  it, 
or  feel  it,  because  our  mind  has  been  covered 
by  the  clouds  formed  out  of  our  hankerings 
for  material  objects.  Our  desire  for  material 
pleasures  is  the  only  veil  that  shrouds  this 
fountain  of  true  happiness  from  our  mental 
vision. 

But  if  our  desires  for  material  enjoyments 
be  carefully  and  intelligently  analyzed,  we  can 
arrive  at  only  one  conclusion,  and  that  is 
that  in  hankering  for  material  pleasures  we  are 
in  fact  practically  hunting  for  that  happiness 
which,  once  attained,  is  ever  full,  ever  satisfy- 
ing; which,  once  enjoyed,  lays  all  hankerings 
for  material  enjoyments  forever  at  rest.  The 
fact  of  our  material  possessions  and  enjoy- 
ments ever  leaving  within  us  a  wish,  more  or 
less  pronounced,  for  something  still  more  en- 
joyable, still  more  pleasurable,  is  the  most  in- 
directly direct  proof  that  we  are  in  quest  of 
something  which  material  objects  cannot  sup- 

13 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ply ;  and  the  fact  of  this  quest  being  present  in 
all  human  souls,  in  all  their  thoughts  and 
actions  at  all  times  forces  us  to  the  irresistible 
conclusion  that  we  once  knew  or  had  a  taste 
of  the  thing  we  all  are  eternally  searching 
for;  and  that,  having  lost  it,  we  are  ever 
endeavoring  to  regain  it,  its  absence  having 
rendered  us  as  unhappy  and  restless  as  a  fish 
out  of  its  element. 

This  lost  object,  this  once  enjoyed  state  of 
the  human  soul,  now  absent  but  ever  longed 
for,  is — Krishna. 

It  is  Krishna — Perfect  State  of  Love  or 
Bliss — that  is  ever  drawing  us  to  Itself.  This 
Krishna  was  once  our  home,  when  this  crea- 
tion, of  which  we  form  but  atoms,  slept  for 
aeons  unnumbered  in  the  bosom  of  Krishna, 
forming  but  a  part  of  His  will.  When  those 
unnumbered  aeons  were  numbered,  after  these 
atoms  of  creation  had  slept  for  enough  time 
to  rest  themselves  in  that  bosom  of  Absolute 
Bliss,  they  were  thrust  out  of  that  realm  into 
space,  to  form  a  universe. 

They  first  manifested  themselves  as  Uni- 
versal Consciousness,  which,  wanting  to  be 

14 


INTRODUCTORY. 

conscious  of  something,  developed  into  Ego, 
and  Ego  developed  into  the  Mind,  as  no  Ego 
is  possible  without  the  faculty  of  thought,  which 
is  the  Mind's  function.  And  as  thoughts  are 
not  possible  without  objects  to  think  upon,  the 
five  fine  objects,  namely :  Sound,  Touch,  Form, 
Taste  and  Smell,  came  into  existence,  along 
with  their  gross  counterparts  and  com- 
pounds, I  mean  the  five  elements,  namely, 
Ether,  Air,  Fire,  Water  and  Earth;  while 
the  Mind's  channels  of  communication  with 
these  fine  and  gross  forms  of  matter  were  de- 
veloped simultaneously,  namely,  the  five  Cog- 
nizing Senses:  Power  of  Seeing,  (eye),  Power 
of  Hearing  (ear),  Power  of  Smelling  (nose), 
Power  of  Tasting  (tongue), Power  of  Feeling 
(skin),  with  the  five  Working  Senses,  namely, 
Power  of  Speaking  (vocal  organs),  Power  of 
Holding  (hands),  Power  of  Moving  (feet), 
Power  of  Excreting  and  Power  of  Generating. 
Thus  from  Krishna  to  earth,  Krishna's  Will 
took  twenty-four  steps  to  assume  the  fonr. 
of  the  universe,  and  myriad  steps  more  to 
divide  the  universe  into  earth,  heaven,  stars, 
planets,  sun  and  moon,  man  and  beast  and 
15 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

bird ;  trees  and  shrubs  and  grass ;  mountains 
and  rivers,  which  go  to  make  it  up. 

But  every  particle  of  this  cosmos  is  con- 
scious, directly  or  indirectly,  in  every  point,  of 
the  home  that  it  has  left,  the  absolute  state  of 
Bliss  it  once  has  soaked  in,  the  incomparable 
nectar  which  it  has  once  tasted.  Yes,  that 
memory  endures;  the  memory  of  that  Love 
Absolute  is  the  cause  of  all  discontent,  of  all 
dissatisfaction,  of  all  strife  and  effort,  of  all 
ambition  and  achievement.  It  is  the  cause  as 
well  of  every  philosophy  and  transcendental 
thought,  of  moral  and  spiritual  uplifting,  and 
of  developing  the  human  into  the  Divine. 

From  Krishna  have  we  all  come  and  Krish- 
naward  are  we  all  tending.  And  all  our  ac- 
tions, good,  bad  or  indifferent,  are  but  the 
feeble  steps  with  which  we  are  all  endeavor- 
ing to  cover  the  journey  back  to  Krishna — our 
Home,  Sweet  Home! — our  ever-loved  Home, 
from  which  we  have  come  away  as  sorry  tru- 
ants and  to  which  the  needle  of  our  soul  ever 
trembles,  pointing  to  us  the  forgotten  path, 
by  which  we  fled  from  and  by  which  we  are 
again  to  return  to  that  Home — Sree  Krishna ! 

36 


INTRODUCTORY, 
GOD  IS  FORMLESS  AND  HAS  A  FORM. 

Thus  Krishna  is  the  object  we  are  all  seek- 
ing through  every  wish  and  every  act;  every 
moment  of  our  existence  we  are  seeking  Krish- 
na. He  is  the  interest  which  makes  life  inter- 
esting, the  one  interest  which  makes  life  worth 
living.  He  is  the  element  of  sweetness  in  the 
grossest  pleasure.  He  is  the  highest  beatitude 
which  the  purest  souls  attain  to.  The  lover 
of  good  eating  cannot  keep  on  eating  forever 
to  sustain  the  pleasure  that  good  eating  pro- 
duces ;  if  he  did,  he  would  die.  The  sensation 
of  eating  endures  as  long  as  the  food  is  on  the 
palate;  but  the  mind  alone  is  the  enjoyer  of 
that  sensation.  The  mind  alone,  likewise,  en-« 
joys  the  pleasure  of  intoxication,  which  the 
dryest  and  highest  priced  champagne  can  af- 
ford. A  little  while  and  the  pleasure  of  the 
daintiest  of  food  and  the  most  delicious  of 
drinks  is  over,  giving  place  to  the  pain  of  its 
loss  and  the  restlessness  in  the  search  again 
for  such  pleasure! 

The  man  who  has  solved  the  mystery  of  true 
pleasure  that  needs  no  re-eating  and  re-drink- 
17 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ing  to  keep  itself  up,  does  not  seek  to  find  it 
in  any  food,  or  in  any  drink,  or  in  any  form  or 
means  of  material  enjoyments,  knowing  that 
it  is  the  mind  alone,  affected  by  material  ob- 
jects, that  cognizes  pleasure  or  pain.  The 
pleasure  or  pain  which  the  mind  feels  on  being 
brought  into  contact  with  the  thought  or  influ- 
ence of  material  objects  is  derived  from  those 
objects  themselves ;  and  so  long  as  the  mind  is 
habituated  to  draw  pleasure  from  such  objects 
it  cannot  but  come  in  for  some  sorrow,  too,  for 
objective  pleasure  is  short-lived,  and  its  cessa- 
tion is  sorrow  in  the  least  pronounced  sense. 

But  we  all  want  only  pleasure  or  happiness ; 
we  hate  pain  or  sorrow  in  any  shape.  If  that 
is  true,  and  nobody  can  say  it  is  not,  then  what 
we  practically  want  is  eternal,  unending 
pleasure;  but  we  seek  to  find  it  in  objects 
whose  very  constituents  partake  of  changeful 
materials  born  more  of  pain  than  of  pleasure. 

If  we  can  make  the  mind  dwell  upon  some 
object  which  is  eternally  lovely  and  lovable, 
nay,  even  if  we  can  imagine  such  an  object, 
mentally  create  such  an  ideal  object,  and  con- 
centrate our  mind  exclusively  upon  it,  then  we 
18 


INTRODUCTORY. 

can  have  a  taste  of  that  unending  happiness 
which  we  all  are  seeking  in  vain  to  find  in 
material  objects.  Then,  dwelling  on  this 
Changeless  Idea,  the  restless  mind  becomes 
fixed  and  calm ;  and  calmness  of  mind  being 
happiness,  the  mind  is  thus  made  happy  by 
itself.  Then  it  has  known  that  happiness  lies 
within  itself,  and  within  means  independent  of 
any  concern  with  outside  objects ;  then  it  finds 
that  the  coarsest  meal  gives  as  much  pleasure 
as  the  daintiest  of  dinners,  and  that  Adam's 
Ale  is  a  more  delicious  drink  than  the  highest- 
priced  champagne.  It  has  then  learned  to  drink 
the  champagne  of  the  soul,  the  least  taste  of 
which  makes  one  think  the  taste  of  the  most 
delicious  wine  and  food  to  be  all  tasteless. 

But  from  such  transcendental  nonsense,  as 
the  materialist  would  call  it,  let  us  come  down 
for  awhile  to  analyze  matter,  the  God  of  the 
materialist.  Let  us  for  awhile  examine  the 
making  and  the  mechanism  of  the  universe, 
and  try  to  trace  in  the  grossest  matter  the  ex- 
istence of  this  Perfect  Love  or  Happiness. 

I  have  already  told  you  of  the  making  of 
the  universe,  that  it  is  made  up  of  twenty-four 

19 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

principles;  namely,  Love,  Universal  Con- 
sciousness, Ego,  Mind,  the  Ten  Senses,  the 
Five  Objects  and  the  Five  Elements.  I  have 
also  told  you  very  briefly  the  process  of  crea- 
tion from  Love  to  earth.  I  need  now  tell  you 
that  every  succeeding  principle,  as  it  is  devel- 
oped, contains  the  preceding  principle  or 
principles.  A  grain  of  earth  therefore  is  as 
good  as  the  whole  universe  in  regard  to  its 
composition.  There  is  but  this  difference  be- 
tween the  universe  and  an  atom  of  it,  that  in 
the  universe  all  the  passages  of  its  twenty-four 
principles  are  fully  opened,  while  in  the  atom 
all  these  passages  are  closed.  But  motion  Ts 
the  principal  law  of  creation,  of  all  creation,  as 
every  particle  of  it  is  ever  moving  in  the  form 
of  change.  The  atom  of  earth,  which  is  the 
smallest  form  of  moving  manifestation  of  Love 
through  finer  and  grosser  matter,  moves  back- 
ward now  through  grosser  and  then  through 
finer  forms  of  love-manifestations  into  the 
Ocean  of  Love  again,  from  which  it  had  orig- 
inally started. 

The  process  of  this  backward  motion  of  ma- 
terial  atom   is   the   opening  of   the   passages 
20 


INTRODUCTORY. 

of  its  composing  principles  through  repeated 
reincarnations.  To  develop  from  a  grain  of 
earth  into  a  blad£  of  grass  is  the  first  step, 
in  which  only  one  passage,  that  of  Feeling, 
is  opened.  The  blade  of  grass  draws  by 
the  opening  of  this  passage  juice  from  the 
earth  for  its  sustenance.  Upward  through 
myriad  forms  of  life — shrubs,  plants,  vege- 
tables, trees,  lower  animals,  etc. — that  atom 
travels,  to  develop  into  the  first  savage  man, 
in  whom  the  principle  called  Mind  is  for  the 
first  time  opened,  and  along  with  it  are  opened 
the  passages  of  Ego  and  Intelligence  (called 
Intellect  in  individual  souls)  ;  for  all  these 
three  principles  are  close  co-workers. 

The  most  important  stage  of  evolution  is 
man  himself,  for  in  man  alone  are  the  pas- 
sages of  all  these  twenty-four  principles  more 
or  less  open.  And  hence  it  is  that  man  is 
called  the  miniature  universe.  From  savage 
man  to  civilized  man,  from  civilized  man  to 
religious  man,  from  religious  man  to  spiritual 
man,  from  spiritual  man  to  perfect,  all  love- 
ful  man,  the  process  involves  again  innumer- 
able incarnations.  It  is  the  perfect,  all-loveful 
21 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

man,  that  reaches  the  original  starting  point 
and  merges  in  the  Ocean  of  Love  called 
Krishna. 

I  am  now  about  to  put  before  you  a  proposi- 
tion which  at  first  sight  may  perhaps  shock 
you ;  but  I  assure  you  that,  if  you  can  manage 
to  get  over  the  first  shock,  by  the  aid  of  an 
open  mind  and  calm  consideration,  you  may 
find  that  proposition  to  contain  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  My 
proposition  is  this :  If  this  "formful"  universe 
— if  that  word  may  be  allowed — formful  in 
every  detail,  has  come  out  of  God,  or  Krishna, 
or  Love,  can  it  be  possible  that  that  Source 
of  the  universe  is  perfectly  formless?  If 
formless,  whence  have  these  form-manifesta- 
tions of  that  formless  Deity  come?  How  can 
forms  come  out  of  anything  void  of  all  forms  ? 
That  is  a  hard  nut  to  crack  for  Western  the- 
ologians; while  material  scientists  do  not  care 
to  call  that  a  nut  at  all,  for  they  have  learned 
to  see  nothing  beyond  matter. 

I  want  you  to  think  over  this  question  with 
a  view  to  draw  the  right  deduction.  Mean- 
while, I  beg  to  submit  a  few  suggestions  which 


INTRODUCTORY. 

may  be  of  help  in  drawing  these  deductions. 
Forms  coming  out  of  anything  formless  is  as 
absurd  to  common  sense  as  it  is  to  higher, 
otherwise  called  divine,  or  spiritual  science. 
Therefore  the  producing  cause  of  the  universe, 
the  first  principle,  is  not  formless,  but  has 
a  Form.  It  has  even  a  form  fike  the  form 
of  a  man,  a  form  most  perfect  in  every  feature, 
a  form  of  which  the  most  exquisitely  beauti- 
ful and  divine  human  form  is  but  a  coarse, 
crude  counterpart.  Man  has  been  made  after 
the  image  of  his  Maker,  says  the  Bible.  The 
idea  has  been  borrowed  from  the  Hindoo 
scriptures,  which  in  their  principles  are  noth- 
ing if  not  scientific  in  propounding  principles. 
The  Veda  says  that  the  Supreme  Deity  is 
both  formless  and  with  form  at  the  same  time. 
Just  as  the  sun  in  its  orb  is  the  concrete  cen- 
tre of  its  abstract,  infinite  self  in  its  mani- 
festation of  light  and  heat,  so  is  the  Supreme 
Deity,  of  which  the  sun  is  but  a  physical  re- 
flection, the  Concrete  Centre  of  His  Abstract 
Infinite  Self  of  His  Effulgence,  called  Love, 
which  pervades  the  whole  universe  and  all 
space,  as  the  basic  principle  of  all  Existence. 

23 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

As  the  sun  (the  orb)  taken  together  with 
its  light  and  heat  should  be  called  the  sun, 
and  not  the  mere  orb  should  be  *  called 
the  sun;  so  Krishna,  the  Supreme  Deity, 
should  be  taken  together  with  His  Central 
Form  and  His  All-Pervading  Effulgence — 
Love — to  be  called  Krishna.  It  will  be  as 
wrong  to  regard  the  orb  only  as  the  sun,  that 
is,  the  orb  minus  its  effulgence  and  heat,  to 
be  the  sun,  as  to  regard  this  Form  of  Krishna 
(tne  Centre  of  Himself)  minus  the  effulgence 
— all-pervading  Love — to  be  Krishna.  Thus 
Krishna,  like  His  physical  light-reflection,  the 
sun,  is  Infinite,  even  though  He  has  a  finite- 
looking  Form-Centre. 

The  fear  entertained  by  most  people  in  the 
West,  that  the  form  carries  with  it  an  idea  of 
finiteness,  is  not  true  in  regard  to  Krishna's 
Form.  Not  only  is  Krishna  Infinite  in  His  ef- 
fulgence, but  the  Image  of  his  Central  Form 
dwells  in  every  particle  of  that  effulgence, 
called  Love.  Besides,  nothing  in  this  universe 
is  finite. 

I  shall,  in  succeeding  pages,  try  to  prove  to 
you  the  fact  that  the  Supreme  Being  has  a  con- 

24 


INTRODUCTORY. 

crete-looking  Form-Centre,  for  two  reasons. 
One  is  to  support  the  proposition  that  no  form 
can  come  out  of  anything  formless,  and  the 
other  is  that  all  forms  in  creation,  from  a 
blade  of  grass  to  a  divine  man,  are  more  or 
less  imperfect  manifestations  of  the  Central 
Form  from  which  they  have  sprung.  From 
the  blade  of  grass  upward,  the  process  of  evo- 
lution discovers  more  and  more  outward  re- 
semblance and  inward  affinity  to  the  Form  and 
attributes  of  the  Author  of  the  universe.  Hence 
it  is  true  that  man  is  made  in  the  Image  of 
his  Maker. 

In  the  upward  evolution  of  the  man-form, 
the  refinement  of  mental,  moral,  intellectual 
and  spiritual  attributes  contributes  more  and 
more  towards  the  man-form  being  made  a 
more  and  more  perfect  image  of  his  Maker, 
both  externally  and  internally. 

Krishna  in  Form  and  in  Love-Effulgence  is 
present  as  much  in  a  grain  of  earth,  in  a  blade 
of  grass,  in  a  beast,  as  in  man.  Only  that 
Form  is  more  or  less  covered  in  the  lower  life- 
forms,  on  account  of  many  of  the  composing 
principles  of  their  bodies  being  unopened; 
25 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

while  in  the  man,  all  the  principles  being 
opened,  the  man-form  looks  more  like  the  form 
of  God.  Some  people  refuse  to  believe  that 
the  Supreme  Deity  has  a  form  like  that  of 
man,  because  God,  with  a  human  form  would 
be  lowered  in  their  estimation.  These  devout 
people  forget  that  the  human  form  is  but  an 
imperfect  picture  of  God's  form,  instead  of 
God's  form  being  a  copy  of  the  human  form. 
So  God  need  not  take  the  trouble  of  assuming 
an  imperfect  reflection  of  His  own  Perfect 
Form. 

Dear  Reader!  Some  of  you  may  say  that 
it  is  foolishness  and  temerity  on  my  part  to 
try  to  prove  that  God  has  a  Form  before  peo- 
ple who  are  in  the  vanguard  of  civilization, 
and  many  of  whom  think  that  the  very  idea  of 
God  is  but  a  diseased  fancy  of  weak  humanity. 
Yet,  for  all  that,  I  do  preach  a  Form-God 
along  with  a  Formless  God  with  all  the  bold- 
ness my  ancient,  truly  scientific  conviction 
commands,  because  that  boldness  is  backed  by 
truth,  the  only  Truth. 

You  here  in  this  country  are  all  of  you  great 
lovers  and  admirers  of  science;  you  want 
26 


INTRODUCTORY. 

everything  to  be  scientific  in  order  to  be  ac- 
ceptable. The  food  you  eat,  the  air  you 
breathe,  the  medicine  you  use,  must  be  scien- 
tifically supplied  and  applied.  But  if  you  want 
science  in  everything,  why  do  you  not  de- 
mand science  in  religion?  Why  is  your  re- 
ligion so  unscientific?  Forms  coming  out  of 
a  formless  God  is  the  most  unscientific  asser- 
tion imaginable. 

The  root  of  this  belief  in  forms  coming  out 
of  the  formless  is  buried  in  the  conceit  which 
the  new  civilization  has  developed  in  its  aver- 
age votary.  People  here  do  not  care  to  bow  in 
reverence  to  anything  that  has  a  form,  hence 
is  a  formless  Deity  so  readily  believed  in.  If 
God  had  a  form,  they  say,  He  would  be  human, 
and  therefore  not  worth  worshiping.  Nor  do 
they  believe  in  making  an  image  of  God  or 
bowing  to  it.  They  will  bow  to  man;  they 
will  idolize  man,  but  not  God.  Every  man 
here  idolizes  his  lady-love,  and  every  lady 
idolizes  her  lover,  with  more  or  less  abject 
worship.  They  will  worship  the  picture  of  a 
lover  or  a  lady-love  day  and  night,  but  they 
will  not  worship  the  image  of  God,  even  in  a 

27 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

picture.  They  will  pay  homage  to  a  moving 
form  of  Wealth  or  Physical  Beauty  or  Sensu- 
ality, but  hate  to  think  of,  much  less  worship, 
an  Image  of  God.  They  are  worse  idolaters 
than  the  Hindoos  whom  they  affect  to  hate  as 
"heathens."  They  worship  idols  of  money 
and  human  flesh;  the  Hindoos  worship  idols 
of  God.  They  worship  material  forms  of  mere 
matter ;  the  Hindoos  worship  Sanctified  Forms 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  or  Its  Attributes.  Let 
them  raise  their  standards  of  idol-worship 
first  in  order  to  be  worthy  to  talk  of  the  purely 
transcendental  idolatry  of  the  Hindoos. 

The  Hindoos  rarely  paint  a  picture  or  carve 
an  image  of  a  human  being ;  a  human  being  is 
not  worthy  of  it,  except  a  Saint  or  a  Gooroo 
(spiritual  guide)  ;  but  they  paint  their  God 
and  make  His  Image,  and  worship  it  with  all 
internal  and  external  homage. 

We  are  all  denounced  as  idolaters ;  but  we 
are  idolaters  to-day,  in  spite  of  all  the  influ- 
ence of  civilization  and  Christian  bigotry 
brought  to  bear  upon  us,  as  good  idolaters  to- 
day as  we  were  ten  thousand  years  ago.  The 
idols  and  idolatry  of  ancient  Greece,  Rome  and 

28 


INTRODUCTORY. 

Egypt  have  been  swept  away;  but  the  idols 
of  the  Hindoo-God  still  flourish  and  will  flour- 
ish to  the  end  of  time,  as  they  flourished  time 
out  of  mind. 

What  is  the  reason?  Whence  is  this  extra- 
ordinary vitality  of  Hindoo  idolatry?  Be- 
cause it  is  not  idolatry  in  the  sense  it  is  un- 
derstood by  "civilized"  Westerners.  We  wor- 
ship the  images  of  the  attribute-manifestations 
of  the  ONE  God,  of  the  ONE  Deity,  of  the 
ONE  Supreme  Being,  who  pervades  the  uni- 
verse, who  originally  is  with  Form  and  Form- 
less at  the  same  time.  We  worship  Krishna, 
above  all,  in  His  Image  as  He  manifested  Him- 
self and  walked  on  earth  among  men  5,000 
years  ago ;  Krishna,  whose  miraculous  deeds  of 
love,  power  and  valor  no  incarnation,  either  in 
the  West  or  in  the  East,  ever  could  enact  or 
even  imitate,  before  His  time  or  even  after  His 
ascension  to  Heaven,  up  to  to-day.  We  love 
this  Krishna,  the  Seed  and  Soul  of  the  Uni- 
verse, the  Basic  Principle  of  creation ;  we  be- 
lieve in  Him  and  in  the  potency  of  His  Name. 

Love  Him,  dear  Reader,  because  He  loves 
you  more  than  anyone  you  meet  here  on  earth. 

My  Krishna  bless  you  all! 
29 


SREE   KRISHNA 

THE  LORD  OF  LOVE 


SECTION    I. 

THE   CONCRETE  AND   ABSTRACT   GOD. 

SEE  you  that  sun,  Beloved  Reader,  shining 
radiant  in  the  blue  space  above?  Ancients 
worshipped  it  as  a  god,  and  the  Hindoos,  the 
most  ancient  of  all  peoples,  worship  the  sun 
as  a  god  still.  With  joined  hands  filled  with 
flowers  and  water  and  trembling  with  homage, 
the  Hindoos  daily  pray  to  this  "Outer  Eye  of 
the  Deity,"  this  parent  of  all  light  and  Nature. 
"O  Thou  Parent  of  the  Three  Worlds !  I  medi- 
tate upon  thy  power  divine  which  directs  my 
intelligence!"  prays  the  Brahman  morning, 
noon  and  evening,  as  he  bows  in  all  reverence. 
This  sun  is  the  physical  expression  of  the 
Spiritual  Sun,  Krishna.  As  the  sun  (the 
orb)  is  the  concrete  centre  of  its  abstract  self, 
in  its  diffused  manifestation  of  light  and  heat 
which  pervades  the  universe,  so  this,  the 
Spiritual  Sun,  Krishna,  the  Source  of  the  sun, 
is  the  concrete  centre  of  the  diffused  effulgence 
31 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

of  His  Body  which  pervades  even  the  sunlight 
and  its  heat.  Krishna  has  a  Form,  a  Form  of 
which  the  most  exquisite  human  form  is  but 
a  crude  counterpart.  The  effulgence  of  Krish- 
na's Body  is  the  substance  of  all  space  and 
creation.  This  Effulgence-Krishna,  with 
Form-Krishna  for  its  centre,  from  which  it 
radiates — is  Love. 

As  the  physical  sun's  effulgence  embodies 
or  is  co-existent  with  heat,  so  the  Spiritual 
Sun's  effulgence  embodies  and  is  co-existent 
with  Intelligence.  This  co-existent  Absolute 
Love  and  Absolute  Intelligence  forms  the  Be- 
ing of  this  Creation.  Krishna  is,  therefore, 
called  the  embodiment  of  Being,  Intelligence 
and  Bliss,  or  Life,  Truth  and  Love.  Every  par- 
ticle of  this  radiance  of  Krishna's  Form-Body 
is  not  only  instinct  with  these  three  attributes 
in  one,  but  has  within  it  the  germ  of  Krishna's 
Form  and  Power. 

The  belief  that  the  First  Cause  of  the  uni- 
verse has  no  form,  is  based  partly  on  error  of 
its  conception  and  upon  ignorance  of  the  laws 
of  Nature.  It  is  a  delusion  to  think  that  all 
forms  are  human,  material,  and  finite,  and  that 
to  acknowledge  that  this  Supreme  Being  has  a 
32 


THE  CONCRETE  AND  ABSTRACT  GOD. 

form  is  to  take  away  from  Him  His  absolute 
divinity,  spirituality  and  infinity. 

That  which  is  not  in  the  seed  cannot  appear 
in  the  tree  which  comes  out  of  it,  says  an 
aphorism  of  the  Vedanta  philosophy.  This  be- 
ing an  undeniable  truth,  even  from  a  com- 
mon sense  standpoint,  it  may  be  asked:  If 
God  is  formless,  and  if  that  formless,  abstract 
God  be  the  source  from  which  the  universe 
has  come,  then  how  can  that  creation  contain 
any  form  ?  If  man's  creator  is  formless,  to  put 
the  question  in  another  way,  wherefrom  has 
He  His  form?  If  God  has  no  form,  then  He 
can  have  no  idea  of  form,  and  having  no  idea 
of  form,  how  can  He  then  create  form,  for 
creation  is  but  expansion  of  Idea. 

Creation  has  sprung  from  God's  will,  says 
the  Holy  Bible,  as  also  the  Veda.  These  tell 
us — and  both  the  Christians  and  the  Hindoos 
are  agreed  on  this  point — that  God  has  a  Will. 
What  is  will?  It  is  but  the  function  or  attri- 
bute of  the  mind.  Just  as  where  there  is 
no  fire  there  can  be  no  smoke,  so  where  there 
is  no  mind  there  can  be  no  will.  Once  we 
admit  that  God  has  a  will,  we  cannot  escape 

33 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

admitting  that  He  has  a  mind,  the  function  of 
which — will — He  exercised  in  order  to  create 
the  universe. 

Now  then,  it  being  established  that  God  has 
a  mind,  the  question  may  be  asked:  Is  that 
mind  encased  in  a  body?  If  so,  what  sort  of 
a  body  is  it  ?  Is  it  physical ;  that  is  to  say,  is 
it  formed  of  the  same  material  of  which  the 
human  body  is  made  ?  Or  is  it  a  body  made  of 
abstract  spirit  ?  This  is  not  possible,  for  mind 
is  defined  by  the  Vedas  to  be  that  principle 
within  us  which  has  the  power  of  willing  and 
non-willing.  Scientists  and  modern  philoso- 
phers define  mind  with  practically  the  same 
purport.  This  vibration  of  the  mind,  willing 
and  non-willing,  is  brought  about  or  induced 
by  the  reflections  cast  upon  it"  by  external  or 
internal  objects,  through  its  channels  of  com- 
munication, the  five  cognizing  senses,  the  phys- 
ical counterparts  of  which  are  the  Eye,  the 
Ear,  the  Nose,  the  Palate  and  the  Skin,  which 
cognize  respectively  Form,  Sound,  Smell, 
Taste  and  Touch,  under  which  five  heads  the 
Vedas  have  classified  all  forms  of  matter  or 
objects.  A  mind  without  these  five  channels 

34 


THE  CONCRETE  AND  ABSTRACT  GOD. 

cannot  exist,  for,  having  no  channels,  it  re- 
ceives no  impressions  of  objects,  and  has  there- 
fore no  chance  of  either  willing  or  non-willing, 
which  is  its  attribute  and  its  only  substance 
and  composition. 

Once  we  acknowledge  that  God  has  a 
mind,  we  cannot  help  acknowledging  these 
channels  of  that  mind,  the  five  senses.  God 
has  therefore  not  only  a  mind,  but  the  Power 
of  Seeing  (eye),  the  Power  of  Hearing  (ear), 
the  Power  of  Smelling  (nose),  the  Power  of 
Tasting  (palate),  and  the  Power  of  Feeling 
(skin).  The  mind  has  also  five  other  powers 
called  its  working  senses;  viz.,  the  Power  of 
Speaking,  the  Power  of  Holding,  the  Power  of 
Moving,  the  Power  of  Excreting  and  the 
Power  of  Generating,  otherwise  called  the 
vocal  organs,  the  hands,  the  feet,  the  excre- 
tory organ  and  the  generating  organ.  Thus 
God,  possessing  a  mind,  is  bound  to  possess 
the  ten  senses,  without  which  the  mind  cannot 
act,  and  inaction  of  the  mind  is  its  destruction 
or  non-existence.  God,  having  a  mind,  has 
to  have  an  Ego,  too,  for  mind  is  but  a  product 
or  channel  of  the  Ego,  which  means  I-ness  or 

35 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Self-Consciousness.  So  that  God  has  all  the 
principles  of  which  man  is  formed,  once  it 
is  admitted  that  God  has  a  mind.  And  there 
is  no  sane  man  who  can  deny  to  God  the  pos- 
session of  a  mind  of  which  the  universe  is 
the  design  and  creation  of  which  man  is  but 
a  tiny  part. 

The  Christian  Bible  says  that  God  has  made 
man  in  His  own  image,  which  means  that  man 
is  the  reflection,  more  or  less  imperfect,  of 
God.  Is  it  then  possible  that  what  is  not  in 
the  original  is  present  in  the  reflection  ?  If  the 
human  soul,  according  to  this  scriptural  say- 
ing, is  a  reflection  (image)  of  the  Deity,  has 
not  that  Deity  a  mind  and  body,  as  Its  reflec- 
tion, the  human  soul,  has? 

The  answer  is :  It  has,  only  the  Divine 
Mind,  being4  consummately  pure  in  its  state  and 
perfect  in  its  working,  is  absolutely  powerful 
to  create,  preserve  and  destroy;  and  the  Body 
in  which  the  Divine  Mind  is  encased  is  com- 
posed of  a  substance  not  of  any  material 
make. 

But  what  does  this  Body  of  God  look  like? 
Is  it  like  a  human  body  ?  The  answer  is  :  Yes, 
36 


THE  CONCRETE  AND  ABSTRACT  GOD. 

but  of  a  perfection  of  shape,  symmetry  and 
beauty,  with  which  no  human  body  can  be 
compared;  it  is  the  Original  Body,  of  which 
the  human  body  is  a  poor  imitation. 

The  question  will  be  asked :  Has  God  then 
as  good  a  finite  body  as  any  of  us?  The  an- 
swer is:  NO,  in  capital  letters.  God's  Body 
is  no  more  finite  than  the  human  body  is. 
There  is  nothing  in  Nature  which  is  finite,  not 
even  a  blade  of  grass,  or  the  tiniest  speck  of 
earth. 

All  is  infinite — all  that  you  see  around  you, 
or  perceive  within  you.  There  is  no  such 
word  as  finite  in  the  dictionary  of  Nature,  in 
the  lexicon  of  Creation.  All,  all  that  looks 
ever  so  small  and  circumscribed  to  the  fleshly 
eye  of  ignorance,  is  vast  and  endless  to  the 
eye  of  spiritual  wisdom.  All  that  to  the  phys- 
ical sight  is  limited  in  shape  and  life  is  be- 
fore the  vision  of  the  soulful  student  of  Cre- 
ation's mysterious  laws  limitless  beyond  grasp. 

Take  a  grain  of  earth,  and  try  to  trace  its 

origin  by  the  light  of  the  discoveries  made 

by  sages  who  probed  into  the  inmost  depths 

of  Nature  with  the  needle  of  pure  spiritual 

37 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

concentration,  and  you  will  find  that  that  grain 
of  earth  has  sprung  from  Water,  Water  from 
Fire,  Fire  from  Air,  Air  from  Ether,  and 
Ether  from  Sound,  Sound  from  Mind  in  its 
effort  to  cognize  outside  of  it  objects  pro- 
jecting from  within  itself,  Mind  from  Ego, 
Ego  from  Consciousness,  and  Consciousness 
from  the  Infinite  Love-ocean,  the  basic  princi- 
ple of  Creation. 

Can  you  call  this  grain  of  earth  finite  by  any 
means  or  chance,  especially  when  you  come  to 
know  the  mysterious  laws  by  which  that  grain 
of  earth  develops  into  a  blade  of  grass,  and 
then,  through  myriads  of  reincarnations  of  dif- 
ferent life-forms,  goes  back  and  merges  into 
the  Ocean  of  Love,  from  which  it  had  origi- 
nally sprung? 

From  Love  to  earth  and  from  earth  to  Love, 
thus  is  made  up  the  circle  of  creation,  and 
every  point  in  its  circumference  is  but  a  mov- 
ing phase  of  the  Infinite  in  manifestation. 

Man  being  but  a  stage  in  the  upward  evo- 
lution of  the  atom  or  a  particle  of  earth,  and 
his  soul  being  a  part  of  the  Universal  Soul, — 
a  wavelet  of  the  Love-Ocean, — he  is  as  im- 

38 


THE  CONCRETE  AND  ABSTRACT  GOD. 

mense  in  every  way  as  the  universe  itself,  as 
infinite  as  the  Essense  of  Infinity.  His  form 
is  but  the  centre  of  his  abstract  Self,  called 
Soul.  This  form  is  concrete-looking,  but  it 
is  so  only  to  the  circumscribed  vision  of  the 
fleshly  eye  of  ignorance. 

The  body  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  Krishna's 
Body,  is  concrete-looking  like  man's,  but  in- 
finite in  the  expansion  of  its  Radiance  or  Real 
Self,  just  as,  to  repeat  the  simile,  the  orb  of 
the  sun  is  the  concrete-looking  centre  of  its  ab- 
stract Self  in  the  manifestation  of  its  light  and 
heat.  The  orb,  its  radiance  and  its  heat  must 
altogether  be  called  the  sun,  and  not  the  orb 
alone.  Krishna,  the  spiritual  Soul  of  the  sun 
as  well  as  of  the  Universe,  has  likewise  a  Form- 
centre,  from  which  radiates  to  limitless  In- 
finity His  effulgence  called  Absolute  Love, 
which  pervades  all  creation  and  space. 

This  body  of  Krishna,  the  Parent  Cause  of 
the  universe,  is  made  up  of  concentrated  Ab- 
solute Love,  and  is  the  Home  of  the  Very  Fin- 
est Ideas  (potencies)  of  the  sense-principles 
and  the  Ego,  Mind  and  Intellect,  which  form 
the  main  factors  of  Creation. 

39 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

The  Beauty  of  the  Body  of  Krishna  changes, 
like  the  shifting1  colors  in  a  kaleidoscope,  into 
more  and  more  soul-entrancing  loveliness  at 
every  second,  for  it  reflects  the  concentrated 
Beauty  and  Sweetness  of  the  whole  universe, 
charms  warring  with  charms  for  supremacy — 
bubbling  foam  and  froth  of  the  Sweetness  of 
the  Nectar  of  Love. 


40 


SECTION  II. 

THE    SCIENCE    OF    CREATION. 

IT  is  an  intelligent  conclusion  to  draw  that 
the  imperfect  form-creations  of  the  Creator 
reach  a  perfect  stage,  or  centre,  towards  which 
all  imperfections  converge  in  order  to  reach 
perfection.  That  centre  does  exist,  that  stage 
is  the  stage  by  the  standard  of  which  all  im- 
perfections of  things  and  phases  in  Nature  are 
known  and  judged.  That  centre  is  the  Su- 
preme God  Himself — Krishna. 

Krishna,  both  Concrete  and  Abstract,  has 
three  main  spiritual  attributes:  Love,  Intelli- 
gence and  Life.  Love  is  the  first  attribute 
and  the  cause  of  the  two  others.  As  the  sun 
(the  orb)  and  its  effulgence,  to  once  more  re- 
peat the  analogy,  are  one  and  the  same  thing, 
as  the  flame  and  its  light  are  one  and  the  same 
thing,  as  without  the  sun  there  can  be  no  sun- 
shine, as  without  the  flame  there  can  be  no 
light;  in  other  words,  as  light  is  inseparable 
from  both  the  sun  and  the  flame,  so  Krishna, 
41 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

though  He  has  a  form  as  finite-looking  as 
a  human  form,  is  not  only  infinite  in  His  All- 
pervading  Radiance,  but  that  Radiance  is  in- 
separable from  his  finite-looking  Form-Centre. 
As  sunshine,  again,  is  inseparable  from  heat, 
so  the  effulgence  of  Krishna's  Central  Self  is 
inseparable  from  Intelligence.  This  Universal 
All-pervading  Intelligence,  again,  is  insepara- 
ble from  Existence  or  Being,  otherwise  called 
Life.  These  three  Absolute  Spiritual  Attri- 
butes form  Krishna's  body,  both  Concrete  and 
Abstract. 

Thus  both  the  Concrete  and  the  Abstract 
Krishna  are  the  embodiment  of  Bliss,  In- 
telligence and  Being,  which  are  co-existent  and 
inter-penetrating.  Before  Creation,  then,  there 
was  nothing  but  this  Krishna — the  three  Abso- 
lute Spiritual  Attributes  in  one  substance,  so 
to  speak;  for  Krishna  or  Para-Brahm  cannot 
be  called  substance,  and  yet  there  is  no  word 
to  indicate  it.  As  mosses  formed  out  of  water 
float  on  the  surface  of  that  water,  soaking  in 
it,  so  does  Creation,  springing  out  of  this  Bliss, 
Intelligence  and  Being  (the  All-pervading  Ab- 
stract Self  of  Krishna),  float,  soaking  in  it. 
42 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    CREATION. 

Let  us  try  to  understand  the  mystery  of  the 
birth  of  this  ever-changeful,  material  Creation 
from  its  eternally  Unchangeable  Parent,  the 
Concrete  and  Infinite  Krishna.  I  have  already 
said  how  every  atom  of  this  Creation  is  com- 
posed of  all  the  twenty-four  principles,  and 
how  in  its  backward  motion  to  return  to  the 
First  or  Primal  Principle — that  atom  opens 
one  by  one  the  passages  of  these  principles; 
and  how,  when  it  develops  into  man-stage  after 
passing  through  innumerable  life-forms  in  the 
course  of  its  evolution,  it  opens  the  passages  of 
all  the  principles  more  or  less.  It  is  the  open- 
ing of  these  passages  of  all  of  its  .composing 
principles,  in  the  man-stage  of  the  atom,  that 
makes  it  fit  to  be  called  a  miniature  universe; 
for  through  these  openings  it  communicates 
more  or  less  freely  with  the  all-pervading  prin- 
ciples of  the  universe.  The  more  developed 
this  man-stage  becomes  (that  is  to  say,  the 
clearer  the  openings  of  these  passages),  the 
more  correct  an  index  it  is  of  the  inner  laws 
and  workings  of  the  great  universe. 

Because  man  has  the  whole  universe  within 
himself  just  as  an  acorn  has  the  whole  oak 
43 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

tree  in  potency  dwelling  within  it,  therefore 
he  can,  by  diving  deep  within  himself,  find  out 
the  mysteries  of  the  producing  Source,  Being 
and  Processes  of  working  of  the  universe. 

If  we  think  on  the  process  of  the  development 
of  a  tree  from  a  seed,  we  will  find  that  process 
as  marvelous  as  the  most  marvelous  phenom- 
ena of  nature.  Indeed,  this  process  of  the 
birth  of  a  tree  out  of  a  seed  is  the  process,  in 
miniature,  of  the  birth  of  the  universe  out  of 
Krishna-Love.  This  process  of  Creation  is  be- 
ing repeated  every  moment  throughout  Crea- 
tion itself.  The  laws  of  production  and  de- 
struction, formation  and  disintegration  are  the 
same  in  scientific  exactitude  as  those  which 
produce  and  form,  and  destroy  and  disinte- 
grate the  universe.  The  operation  of  these 
laws  is  going  on  as  much  in  the  inner  as  in 
this  outer  world  of  ours — as  constantly  on  the 
mental  plane  as  on  the  physical.  The  law 
which  brings  forth  a  tree  out  of  a  seed  is  ex- 
actly the  same  as  that  which,  in  a  finer  mani- 
festation, operates  through  the  birth  of  a 
thought  in  our  mind.  The  rooting,  the  shoot- 
ing, the  growing,  the  flowering  and  the  fruit- 
44 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    CREATION. 

ing  of  a  tree  is  but  a  gross  reproduction  of  the 
process  by  which  a  thought  awakes,  develops 
and  takes  shape  and  action  within  us.  The 
stages  of  a  thought's  birth  can  be  clearly  per- 
ceived when  the  mind  is  calm ;  at  first  there  is 
an  Unknown  Feeling,  then  an  Indefinite  Vi- 
bration, which  develops  into  Abstract  Idea. 
Idea  develops  into  Thought,  and  Thought  be- 
comes action. 

Out  of  Krishna  (Love)  Creation  springs 
into  existence  like  a  thought.  Thought  exists 
in  our  mind  like  a  seed,  in  the  shape  of  previ- 
ous impressions  of  objects  and  ideas ;  so  the 
seed  of  creation  lies  in  the  bosom  of  Krishna, 
in  the  shape  of  impressions  of  ideas  of  previ- 
ous Creations.  This  seed  or  germ  is  made  up 
of  three  attributes,  called  Sattwa  (Illumina- 
tion), Raja  (Activity  or  Motion),  and  Tama 
(Obscuration  or  Darkness).  So  long  as  these 
three  attributes,  forming  the  essence  of  the 
germ,  are  in  equilibrium,  that  is  to  say,  are  of 
equal  degree  or  force  or  intensity,  Creation 
remains  in  the  germ-state  in  the  bosom  of  its 
First  Cause  (Krishna).  But  the  moment  there 
is  the  least  tendency  of  any  of  these  attri- 
45 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

butes  of  this  germ-essence  to  fall  out  of  equi- 
librium with  the  other  two,  that  is  to  say,  when 
one  becomes  more  powerful  than  the  others, 
then  they  start  out  of  the  Central  Self — Krish- 
na, encased  in  another  form,  almost  like  unto 
the  Krishna-Form,  a  state  which  is  analogous 
to  the  Unknown-Feeling  state  in  the  develop- 
ment of  human  thought. 

This  state  is  called  Vasudeva,  which  again 
has  a  form-centre  of  its  abstract  self-radiance, 
pervading  all  space.  It  is  the  least  pronounced 
state  or  stage  of  differentiation  induced  by  the 
tendency  of  loss  of  equilibrium  in  the  even 
'forces  of  the  three  Cardinal  Attributes  (Gu- 
nas),  illumination,  motion  and  obscuration. 
The  second  stage,  called  Sankarsana,  analo- 
gous to  the  Indefinite-Vibration  stage  of  the 
development  of  thought,  has  again  a  form- 
centre  of  its  all-pervading  abstract  self-radi- 
ance. This  Sankarsana  is  the  Unconscious 
Cause  of  Creation.  The  third  stage,  called 
Pradyumna,  analogous  to  the  Abstract-Idea 
stage  of  thought,  has  likewise  a  form-centre 
of  its  all-pervading  abstract  Self-radiance. 

This  is  the  Semi-Conscious  Cause  of  Creation ; 

\ 
46 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    CREATION. 

and  from  this  develops  the  fourth  stage,  called 
Aniruddha,  which  is  analogous  to  the  full- 
developed  Thought-stage  and  is  the  Full  Con- 
scious Cause  of  Creation.  This  Aniruddha  is 
called  Vishnoo  or  Narayan,  from  nar  (water), 
and  ayan  (bed),  because  he  floats  on  his  back 
on  the  water  of  Love-life,  while  out  of  his 
navel  springs  a  gigantic  lotus — a  figurative 
expression,  meaning  the  Universe  in  bud — in 
which  is  encased  the  sleeping  Brahma,  the 
operating  Creator,  with  the  germ  of  Creation 
dwelling  within  his  mind  and  about  to  shoot 
forth. 

In  Aniruddha  the  real  stage  of  inequi- 
librium  of  the  Attributes  (Gunas)  develops, 
and  in  Brahma  it  assumes  full  development. 
With  the  opening  of  the  petals  of  the  Mystic 
Love-lotus,  Brahma  awakes  from  his  sleep 
(deep  trance  state),  and,  unable  for  a  moment 
to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  Lotus-bed 
or  the  Water  of  Life  around  (just  as  a  man 
suddenly  roused  out  of  sleep  is  dazed  and 
forgets  to  think  and  therefore  feels  stupid  for 
the  moment),  he  goes  down  through  the  hol- 
low of  the  Lotus-stalk  in  order  to  find  out 
47 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

the  bottom  of  the  Lotus.  He  goes  down,  down, 
down,  and  at  last  finds  its  depths  unending, 
bottomless.  He  therefore  comes  up  to  the 
surface  again  and  sits  down  mystified,  when 
he  suddenly  hears  a  voice  from  the  water,  as 
it  were,  saying :  "Tapa,  tapa,  tapa !"  which 
means,  "Meditate,  meditate,  meditate!"  With 
the  sound  of  that  word  the  meaning  becomes 
apparent  to  Brahma.  It  means:  "Why  art 
thou  looking1  outward  ?  Look  inward  and  thou 
shalt  know."  Whereupon  his  eyes  involuntar- 
ily close,  and  his  mind  becomes  concentrated 
inward.  Then  he  sees  before  his  mental  vision 
Aniruddha  (Vishnoo)  appear  and  say: 
"O  Awakened  One !  know  and  remember  that 
thou  art  Brahma,  the  Creator."  At  the  very 
suggestion  he  finds  out  his  own  self  and  ex- 
claims: "Oh,  yes!  I  am  Brahma."  Then 
Vishnoo  again  says :  "Thou  hast  now  to  cre- 
ate the  universe."  „. 

"Oh,  yes!"  he  exclaims,  as  the  memory 
of  his  function  springs  within  him,  "I  am  to 
create  the  universe;  but  how?*' 

"By  meditating  upon  the  former  creation. 
As  the  memory  of  past  creation,  which  dwells 

48 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    CREATION. 

within  thee,  shall  awake,  creation  will  begin." 
With  hearing  begins  action ;  and  as  Brahma 
concentrates  his  mind  upon  his  former  cre- 
ation, its  memory  in  time  flashes  through  him, 
and  with  the  flashing  of  that  memory  creation 
manifests  itself,  in  the  shape  of  earth,  and  sky, 
and  trees,  and  grass,  and  ocean,  and  rivers, 
and  in  time  beast,  and  bird,  and  man,  all  com- 
plete. Just  as  a  master  painter  first  designs  a 
picture  in  his  mind  and  reproduces  that  design 
upon  the  canvas,  even  so  is  the  picture  of  cre- 
ation produced  upon  the  canvas  of  Love-life. 
Only  the  painter  Brahma  paints  with  the  brush 
of  his  all-powerful  mind-force,  which,  the  mo- 
ment the  design  forms  in  his  mind,  is  material- 
ized into  living  substance. 


49 


SECTION  III. 

THE    STEPS     OF    CREATION. 

THE  Veda  says  that  the  universe  is  like  a 
tree;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  tree,  the  roots  of 
which  are  embedded  in  the  unmanifested 
First  Cause — Krishna.  Aniruddha  is  the 
seed,  and  Brahma  is  the  first  sprout.  This 
analogy  between  the  seed  and  the  sprout, 
between  Aniruddha  (also  called  Vishnoo  and 
Narayan)  and  Brahma  seems  so  perfect  that 
it  justifies  the  conclusion  that  the  process  of 
the  birth  of  a  plant  is  only  an  imitation  of  the 
process  through  which  the  universe  springs 
into  being. 

As  in  the  germination  of  a  seed  two  lobes, 
called  cotyledons,  which  form  part  of  the  seed, 
come  out  prior  to  the  appearance  of  the  stem 
which  shoots  forth  between  them,  so  out  of  the 
navel  of  Narayan  (Aniruddha)  first  appear 
two  cotyledons,  called  "Lotus"  in  the  figura- 
tive language  of  the  Veda,  and  between  the 
cotyledons,  sprouts  forth  the  stem  in  the  shape 

50 


THE    STEPS    OF    CREATION. 

of  Brahma,  who  is  the  miniature  embodiment 
of  the  universe. 

Before  Brahma  was  born,  Narayan  created 
Universal  Consciousness,  which  was  but  the 
manifestation  of  his  own  Consciousness  (called 
Mahat,  which  means  Immeasureable).  Out  of 
Consciousness  sprang  Ego  (Ahankara).  Out 
of  Ego  sprang  Mind.  Out  of  Mind  sprang 
Ether  (Akasha).  From  Ether  sprang  Water. 
Out  of  the  friction  of  Ether  and  Water  sprang 
Air.  This  Air,  rising  up  from  the  ocean  of 
Water  with  great  noise,  created,  by  its  fric- 
tion with  Water,  flames  of  Fire,  illumining  all 
space.  This  Fire  became  mixed  up,  by  the 
cohesive  attribute  of  Air,  with  Water  and 
Ether,  and  all  four  elements  became  one  thick- 
ened, molten  mass;  and  as  it  rose  upward 
the  liquid  substance  which  issued  from  it  be- 
came solidified  and  cooled  in  process  of  time 
and  formed  into  Earth. 

Then  the  Lotus  (cotyledons)  sprang  forth 
from  the  navel  (Sanscrit,  Navee,  middle)  of 
Narayan,  and  within  them  Brahma  (the 
stem)  shot  forth.  His  body  was  made  of  the 
Five  Elements  and  Consciousness,  Mind  and 

51 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Ego.  He  is  also  said  to  be  the  central  form- 
embodiment  of  Ego  (Ahankara). 

Brahma  is  but  the  creative  form-potency  of 
Narayan.  When  Narayan  bade  him  to  medi- 
tate upon  his  former  creation,  and  told  him 
also  that  the  moment  that  memory  of  former 
creation  would  awake  within  him  creation 
would  begin,  Brahma  meditated  as  he  was 
told,  and  creation  began  as  that  memory  of  the 
past  creation  flashed  within  him. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Narayan  (Anirud- 
dha)  is  the  real  Creator.  He  creates  at  first 
the  eight  main,  abstract  and  concrete  princi- 
ples; viz.,  Consciousness,  Ego,  Mind,  and  the 
;five  elements — Ether,  Air,  Fire,  Water  and 
Earth.  After  the  creation  of  these  was  cre- 
ated the  first  concrete  form,  Brahma,  who  was 
to  create  the  details  of  Creation.  But  even 
these  creations  were  not  the  product  of  the 
arbitrary  will  of  Narayan,  though  their  ex- 
pressions were  subject  to  his  will  or  medium- 
ship.  The  seed-bud  of  creation  dwelt  in  the 
most  mysteriously  abstract  state  within  Krish- 
na (Absolute  Love),  a  state  so  similar  to  that 

First  Principle  that  it  would  enter  and  merge 
52 


THE    STEPS    OF    CREATION. 

itself  in  it.  If  we  cut  a  seed  in  halves,  we  find 
in  it  not  even  a  suggestion  of  the  tree  of  which 
it  is  the  seed ;  but  if  we  plant  it  in  the  soil,  the 
rudimentary  form  of  the  tree's  organism, 
called  the  germ,  asserts  itself  and  creates  its 
state  of  differentiation  from  its  original  state 
of  homogeneity.  So  from  the  tendency  of 
the  least  inequilibrium  of  the  forces  of  the 
three  Cardinal  Attributes,  Sattwa,  Raja,  Tama 
(which,  having  formerly  attained  equality  of 
force,  have  lost  their  different  individualities 
and  have  become  merged  and  transformed  into 
Pure  Sattwa — Illumination)  springs  the  germ- 
state  of  Creation,  and,  passing  through  its 
three  stages;  viz.,  Vasudeva,  Sankarsana  and 
Pradyumna,  reaches  its  fourth  stage,  called 
Aniruddha,  where,  having  attained  further  de- 
velopment, it  sprouts  forth  into  Brahma,  the 
first  visible  miniature  embodiment  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

As  out  of  the  tiny  but  potent  shoot  of  the 
plant  from  the  seed,  the  details  of  the  tree, 
viz.,  trunk,  branches,  leaves,  flowers  and  fruit, 
spring  forth  to  attain  its  full-grown  state,  so 
out  of  its  minute  but  potent  shoot,  the  details 

53 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  the  universe,  viz.,  earth,  heaven,  sun,  moon, 
stars,  day,  night,  mountains,  rivers,  vegeta- 
tion, spiritual  beings,  animals,  men,  etc.,  spring 
forth  to  attain  its  complete  form. 

The  manifestation  of  Universal  Conscious- 
ness (Mahat)  is  called  the  First  Step  of  Crea- 
tion. The  birth  of  Ego  (Ahankara)  out  of  Con- 
sciousness is  called  the  Second  Step  of  Crea- 
tion ;  that  of  Mind  from  Ego  is  the  Third  Step ; 
that  of  the  Five  Elements — Ether,  Air,  Fire, 
Water  and  Earth  from  Mind  is  the  Fourth 
Step;  that  of  the  Five  Attributes  of  the  Ele- 
ments— Sound,  Touch,  Form,  Taste  and 
Smell — from  the  Elements  is  the  Fifth  Step; 
that  of  the  Five  Cognizing  Senses — Seeing, 
Hearing,  Smelling,  Tasting,  Feeling — out  of 
these  Five  Attributes  (also  called  Objects)  is 
the  Sixth  Step;  that  of  the  Five  Working 
Senses — Speaking,  Holding,  Moving,  Excret- 
ing, Generating — from  the  Five  Elements  is 
the  Seventh  Step;  that  of  gods  and  aerial,  in- 
visible beings  is  the  Eighth  Step ;  tHat  of  trees 
and  plants  and  shrubs  and  grass  and  all  other 
vegetation,  as  also  that  of  the  wild  animals  and 
birds,  is  the  Ninth  Step ;  that  of  domestic  ani- 
54 


THE    STEPS    OF    CREATION. 

mals  and  men  and  women  is  the  Tenth  Step. 
These  steps  or  series  of  Creation  have  de- 
veloped between  long  intervals.  These  are 
called  purely  Natural  Creations  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  mind-force  of  Aniruddha 
(Narayan)  and  Brahma. 


55 


SECTION  IV. 

THE    CYCLIC    MOTION    OF    CHANGES. 

THE  Veda  says  that  when  the  three  Car- 
dinal Attributes,  by  losing  this  equipoise  of 
force,  sprang  into  being,  and  leaving  the  bo- 
som of  Krishna  (Absolute  Love)  passed 
through  the  three  stages  of  their  development, 
viz.,  Vasudeva,  Sankarsana  and  Pradyumna, 
they  brought  with  them  a  vibration  from 
Krishna  which  found  expression  in  Anirud- 
dha,  who  exclaimed  as  he  awoke  from  trance- 
sleep,  as  it  were :  "I  am  One,  I  wish  to  be 
the  Many."  This  Divine  Will  manifested  it- 
self into  the  Universe  in  the  manner  described 
in  the  previous  section. 

From  the  One — Love — trie  motion  of  mani- 
festation of  Creation  has  therefore  been  to- 
wards manifoldness.  From  One — Love — the 
Principles  sprang  one  by  one,  and  where  there 
was  only  One,  there  were  twenty-four.  The 
details  of  Creation  sustained  this  process  of 

manifoldness,  and  motion  gradually  increased 
56 


THE  CYCLIC  MOTION  OF  CHANGES. 

in  speed,  manifesting  varieties,  until  now  that 
increased  motion  manifests  that  Will  in  mil- 
lions of  phases  within  every  second  of  time. 

This  motion  of  manifestations  or  changes  is 
like  the  surface  of  a  troubled  ocean,  where 
heaving  billows  innumerable,  crested  with 
foam,  cover  countless  living  beings.  The  cur- 
rent of  creative  changes  is  mixed  with  and  fed 
by,  and  dashes  against,  the  opposite  current  of 
involutionary  changes.  The  moment  the  last 
Principle  of  the  Universe — Earth — was  cre- 
ated, it  had  the  tendency  to  go  back  to  the 
First  Source  of  Creation.  But,  unable  to 
force  its  way  back  through  the  channel  by 
which  it  sprang,  owing  to  the  rush  of  creative 
current,  it  found  a  circuitous  channel  by  which 
its  composing  molecules  started  on  their  way 
back.  As  has  already  been  said,  and  will  be 
fully  explained  in  detail  in  a  separate  section, 
the  molecules  have  a  tendency  to  open  the 
passage  of  their  composing  principles,  and  thus 
to  journey  back  by  myriads  of  reincarnations 
through  different  and  higher  and  higher  life- 
forms  to  the  First  Parent  Principle.  The  cur- 
rent of  Creation  which  began  with  the  mani- 
57 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

festation  of  Universal  Consciousness  is  still 
moving  on,  and  will  move  on  in  the  shape  of 
changes  until  universal  disintegration  and 
dissolution  take  place.  This  current  of  cre- 
ative changes  is  mixed  up  and  swelled  by  the 
opposite  current  of  involution,  also  in  the  shape 
of  changes.  These  warring  waves  of  action 
and  reaction  make  up  the  Cosmos-Ocean. 

Narayan  (Aniruddha)  is  the  Seed-Manifes- 
tation (Will)  of  Krishna  (the  Supreme  De- 
ity) ;  the  Universe  is  the  Physical  Manifesta- 
tion (Materialized  Will-Force)  of  Krishna; 
Time  is  the  Motion  Manifestation  (Process  of 
Working  of  the  Will-Force)  of  Krishna;  and 
the  Veda  is  the  Sound- Manifestation  (Sound- 
Expression  of  the  Laws  of  the  Will-Force)  of 
Krishna. 

It  has  been  shown  how  Narayan  is  the  Seed- 
Manifestation  and  how  the  Universe  is  the 
materialized  Will-Force  of  Narayan  and  Brah- 
ma. I  will  now  deal  with  this  Motion-Mani- 
festation— Time. 

"I  am  One,  and  I  wish  to  be  the  Many." 
The  Lord  was  One,  and  the  moment 
He  wished  to  appear  to  be  the  Many, 

58 


THE  CYCLIC  MOTION  OF  CHANGES. 

then  this  wonderful  creation  of  vastness 
and  variety  sprang  into  existence.  From 
the  moment  of  the  rise  of  that  Will  in 
the  Divine  Mind  down  to  this  moment,  that 
Will  is  undergoing  the  process  of  its  execu- 
tion. It  is  a  rush  from  the  One  towards  mani- 
foldness.  This  process  of  that  manifoldness 
is  called  Creation,  and  the  rhythm  of  its  mo- 
tion is  called  Time.  The  whole  Creation  is 
nothing  but  motion  of  Changes.  Time  is  noth- 
ing but  the  cognition  by  our  mind  of  events 
and  ideas  which  are  phases  of  changes  in  in- 
ternal and  external  Nature.  If  we  had  no 
notion  of  events  and  never  had  an  idea  within 
ourselves,  we  would  be  in  Eternity.  So  long 
as  we  are  conscious  of  the  kaleidoscopic 
changes  in  us  and  Nature,  or  are  conscious  of 
their  impressions  on  our  mind,  we  live  in  Time. 
And  the  moment  all  impressions  of  the  mind 
are  obliterated  and  we  become,  through  any 
process,  unconscious  of  human  and  natural 
events,  we  lose  all  consciousness  of  existence; 
that  is  to  say,  we  go  behind  the  veil  which 
enshrouds  these  physical  phenomena,  and  we 
enter  the  realm  which  is  an  undisturbed  calm 
59 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  Absolute  Life,  Light  and  Bliss,  the  Trinity 
which  is  Eternity. 

These  changes  in  Nature  and  human  society, 
starting  from  the  beginning  of  Creation,  move 
in  cycles ;  that  is  to  say,  they  have  a  cyclical 
process  of  motion.  In  other  words,  some 
events,  natural  and  human,  that  occur  within  a 
certain  period  of  time,  are  reproduced  in  their 
principal  features  in  the  next  period  of  time 
of  the  same  length.  Creation  proceeds  to- 
wards ever  manifold  variety  at  this  cyclic 
pace. 

The  smallest  appreciable  Cycle  of  Nature's 
change-process  is  the  Day.  Twenty-four  hours, 
called  one  day,  are  divided  into  two  parts, 
called  day  and  night. 

One  Day  is  a  Cycle  embodying  natural  and 
human  events  which  are  reproduced  in  the 
following  day,  and  so  on.  So  that  every  day 
and  night,  in  their  principal  features,  are  but 
a  reproduction  of  the  previous  day  and  night. 
One  day,  therefore,  is  the  smallest  cycle  of 
time  or  events,  for  events  are  but  the  pnases 
of  natural  changes,  and  time  is  but  the  cog- 
nition or  consciousness  thereof. 


THE  CYCLIC  MOTION  OF  CHANGES. 

The  next  cycle  of  time  or  events  is  the 
Month,  in  which  two  events  which  occur  with- 
in twenty-eight  lunar  days  are  reproduced  in 
the  next  twenty-eight  lunar  days.  These  two 
events  are  the  fourteen  days  of  waxing  and 
waning  moon,  and  the  bright  fortnight  is 
the  day  and  the  dark  fortnight  is  the  night  of 
the  month. 

The  next  larger  cycle  is  the  Year,  in  which 
the  four  seasons  mark  the  principal  divisions 
of  events  and  are  reproduced  in  all  years  in  the 
self-same  order,  their  uniform  changes  of 
weather  and  Nature  bringing  forth  fruit  and 
crops. 

In  the  same  way  these  events,  called  Time, 
develop  larger  cycles  in  which  some  event  or 
other,  or  a  series  of  events,  are  reproduced  in 
the  next  equal  length  of  time.  There  are 
cycles,  for  instance,  of  from  500  to  100,000 
years,  the  phenomena  of  which  are  reproduced 
in  the  next  period  of  their  respective  propor- 
tions. But  the  most  pronounced  cycle  is  called 
the  Divine  Cycle.  The  Sanscrit  word  'rDiva" 
is  the  root  of  the  word  "Divine,"  and  "Yuga'' 
61 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

is  the  original  of  which  the  word  "Age"  is 
a  corrupted  form. 

This  Divine  Age  (Daiva-Yuga)  is  divided 
into  four  Human  Ages,  called  Satya,  Treta, 
Dwapar  and  Kali.  The  span  of  this  Divine 
Cycle  is  composed  of  12,000  Divine  Years,  and 
each  Divine  Year  is  equal  to  360  human  years, 
so  that  12,000  years  multiplied  by  360  gives  us 
4,320,000  human  years,  which  is  the  length  of 
a  Divine  Cycle.  The  next  bigger  cycle  is 
called  the  Manwantara,  which  is  made  up  of 
71  Divine  Cycles  and  is  wound  up  with  a 
Deluge,  in  which  the  whole  world,  including 
the  highest  peaks  of  the  Himalayas,  becomes 
immersed  in  water  and  remains  so  for  the 
period  of  71  Divine  Age's.  The  next  larger 
cycle  is  the  Kalpa,  which  is  made  up  of  14 
Manwantaras,  or  1,000  Divine  Ages.  The  next 
cycle  and  the  largest  is  called  Maha-Pralaya, 
in  which  the  whole  universe  is  destroyed  to- 
tally, Krishna  alone  remaining  with  His  Radi- 
ance, filling  all  space,  and  36,000  Kalpas  bring 
about  this  Universal  Dissolution. 

Since  the  beginning  of  this  Kalpa  creation, 
six  Manwantaras  (Deluges)  have  passed 
62 


THE  CYCLIC  MOTION  OF  CHANGES. 

away.  Since  the  last  Deluge  27  Divine  Cycles 
have  rolled  away.  This  is  the  twenty-eighth 
Divine  Cycle  of  which  the  first  three  sections, 
viz.,  the  Golden  Age,  the  Silver  Age  and  the 
Copper  Age  have  passed  away.  We  are  just 
now  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  section,  the 
Kali  or  Iron  (Dark)  Age. 


63 


SECTION  V. 

THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

CREATION  begins  with  the  dawn  of  the  Satya 
Yuga,  which  is  also  called  the  Golden  Age. 
It  is  the  first  part  and  the  longest  section  of 
the  Divine  Age.  The  span  of  this  age  is  4,800 
Divine  years,  which  being  multiplied  by  360 
gives  us  1,728,000  human  years.  It  is  the  most 
spiritual  age,  because,  of  the  three  Cardinal 
Attributes — Sattwa,  Raja  and  Tama — which 
govern,  and  are  the  parents  of,  the  composing 
principles  of  the  Universe,  the  Sattwa  is  pre- 
dominant in  its  influence.  The  Sattwa  is  that 
attribute  which  uncovers  the  true  state  of 
things  without  and  within  us  and  in  Nature, 
hence  it  may  be  called  the  attribute  of  Illumi- 
nation. Raja  is  the  attribute  of  Activity 
(motion  of  change),  and  Tama  is  the  very  re- 
verse attribute  of  Sattwa.  It  Is  that  attribute 
within  us  and  Nature  which  covers  the  true 
state  of  things,  hence  it  may  be  called  the 
64 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

Obscuring,  darkening  attribute,  the  Attribute 
of  Darkness. 

The  Satya  Yuga  is  called  the  Golden  Age, 
because  gold  is  very  abundant  in  this  age  of 
utmost  spirituality,  and  gold  is  the  purest  and 
most  spiritual  of  all  metals.  The  Illumination 
of  predominant  Sattwa  pervades  all  Nature 
in  this  age.  Nature,  inside  and  out,  is  full 
of  light,  almost  transparent  witfi  light — spirit- 
ual through  and  through.  So  is  man,  her 
best  product.  Men  and  women  in  this  age  at- 
tain a  spiritual  depth  and  height  which  no 
other  age  can  develop.  This  spiritual  height 
manifests  itself  in  their  physical  body,  while 
the  depth  of  their  inward  spirituality  shows 
itself  in  their  outer  life  and  actions.  The 
Golden  Age  men  are  twenty-one  cubits,  or 
thirty-one  and  a  half  feet,  in  height.  This 
may  strike  us,  diminutive  mortals  of  this  Kali 
Yuga  or  Iron  Age,  as  absurd  or  improbable, 
but  it  need  not  do  so  if  we  remember  how  long 
ago  the  last  Golden  Age  was — nearly  three 
million  years.  Moreover,  as  they  are  all  of 
the  same  height,  they  do  not  think  they  are 
abnormally  tall. 

65 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

These  men  and  women,  owing  to  their  high 
degree  of  spirituality,  have  a  perfectly  healthy, 
harmonious  and  beautiful  body,  for  spirituality 
is  health,  harmony  and  beauty.  They  have 
their  inner  vision  fully  opened  and  see  more 
through  their  ensouled  mind's  eyes  than 
through  their  physical  ones.  They,  therefore, 
see  through  Nature  as  through  a  glass.  All 
Nature  stands  revealed  to  them  to  her  inmost 
depth  wherein  they  see  the  One  Essence  which 
pervades  it,  the  One  Spirit  of  which  all  things 
within  and  on  the  surface  of  Nature  are  but 
different  phases  of  its  manifestation.  And  in 
it  all  they  find  themselves  as  part  of  the 
same  phases,  living,  moving  and  having  their 
being  sustained  by  tHat  One  Spirit  which  is 
both  life  and  light — the  One  Omnipresent 
Spirit,  the  one  All-Pervading  Essence — Love. 

The  Golden  Age  men  and  women  Have  no 
garments  to  cover  their  entirely  bare  body, 
nor  do  they  need  any.  We  clothe  our  bodies 
for  two  reasons:  First,  out  of  our  sense  of 
delicacy  and  shame  because  of  our  dark 
thoughts  born  of  improper  and  unnatural  (sin- 
ful) actions,  and  secondly,  to  protect  our  body 

66 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

and  health  from  the  attacks  of  the  sun,  the 
rain  and  the  changes  of  weather  and  climate. 
The  Golden  Age  men  have  no  such  reason 
for  wearing  any  clothes.  Their  perfect  spirit- 
uality admits  of  no  dark  thought  to  touch 
their  mind,  for  all  is  illumination  within  and 
without  them,  while  their  actions  are  all  in 
perfect  consonance  with  the  purest  laws  of 
Nature,  in  rhythmic  motion  with  the  music  of 
the  Infinite  whose  song  they  hear  in  their 
soul.  They  may  be  called  moving  Vedas — 
walking  wisdom  and  spirituality.  The  laws 
of  the  Veda  form  the  mechanism  of  their  mind, 
and  it  is  these  Vedic  laws  that  move  their  limbs 
and  prompt  their  words  and  actions.  Their 
perfect  spiritual  health  is  proof  against  the 
hardships  of  weather,  or  rather  there  is  no 
hardship  of  weather  at  all.  The  spirit  of  the 
Age  pervades  all  Nature,  of  which  the  weather 
is  a  phase.  Even  Nature's  forces  are  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  one  another,  for  harmony  is 
the  very  keynote  of  the  Age.  It  is  Spring, 
sweetest  Spring  season,  all  the  year  round,  dur- 
ing night  and  during  day ;  warm  enough  with- 
out heat,  cool  enough  without  being  cold, 
67 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

breezy  enough  without  being  windy — man  and 
beast  and  bird  and  tree  and  earth  and  weather 
all  are  in  harmony.  Harmony,  harmony,  all 
is  harmony  in  this  Blessed  Age. 

Man  and  woman  have  no  need  at  all  for  sex 
life  in  the  Golden  Age.  The  ecstasy  of  the 
soul  with  which  their  body  and  being  are  filled 
renders  it  impossible  for  even  any  thought  of 
gross  fleshly  pleasures  to  enter  their  mind.  The 
very  drawing  of  breath  is  to  them  a  pure 
delight  which  any  fleshly  or  objective  pleasure 
of  our  day  cannot  dream  of  approaching.  Life 
is  lived  then  in  its  veriest  depth — deep  down 
through  the  mind,  deeper  down  through  the 
heart,  deepest  down  in  the  deptfi  of  the  soul. 
And  when  life  is  lived  in  such  depth,  its  sur- 
face is  not  heeded  or  cared  for.  Such  a  life 
does  not  require  much  material  nutrition — it  is 
nourished  by  the  soul's  all-nourishing  nectar. 

These  men  and  women  eat  very  little  food — 
fruits  and  roots  only,  and  drink  milk  and  water, 
and  these  between  long  intervals.  They  feel 
very  little  hunger  and  that  little  on  far-be- 
tween occasions.  We  feel  hungry  because  of 
68 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

our  mind  contemplating  matter.  All  matter 
is  changeful — matter  is  nothing  but  collected 
forms  of  change.  Its  seeming  substance  em- 
bodies but  motion  of  change,  so  that  its  inmost 
attribute  is  changefulness.  Our  mind  concen- 
trating on  material  objects  absorbs  its  attribute 
— changefulness — and  is  affected  by  it  forth- 
with ;  it  becomes  changeful  in  its  turn,  that  is, 
it  is  rendered  restless,  flitting  quickly  from  one 
object  to  another.  This  changefulness  of  the 
mind  is  in  turn  absorbed  by  our  body,  which 
suffers  from  its  effects  in  the  shape  of  loss  of 
tissue.  And  this  loss  of  tissue  we  Have  to  sup- 
ply by  food  and  drink  and  rest  and  sleep.  Trie 
Golden  Age  people  do  not  suffer  from  this 
loss  of  tissue,  because  their  minds  are  always 
concentrated  on  the  One  Changeless  Sub- 
stance, the  very  reflection  of  which  through 
the  changeful  forms  of  matter  makes  them 
seem  steady  and  substantial.  Tfie  little  wear 
and  tear  they  suffer  from,  owing  to  looking 
now  and  then  on  the  surface^  of  things,  causes 
some  little  need  of  nutrition,  which  their  occa- 
sional fruit  and  milk  meals  supply. 

If  they  need  little  food  they  also  need  little 
69 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

rest.  And  when  they  need  it,  they  just  lie 
down  on  the  cool  carpet  of  the  fragrant  grass, 
for  they  have  no  other  bed  than  this,  because 
in  the  Golden  Age  there  are  no  houses  what- 
ever on  the  face  of  the  earth.  We  build  houses 
for  the  same  reasons  that  we  wear  clothes,  and 
these  reasons  are  absent  in  the  lives  of  the 
Golden  Age  people.  Their  bodies  need  no  pro- 
tection from  the  weather,  nor  do  they  need  ex- 
ternal comforts,  for  they  think  more  of  their 
soul  than  of  their  body. 

Their  home  is  wherever  they  live  and  rest, 
its  roof  is  the  high  vault  of  Heaven  with  its 
azure  canopy,  Mother  Earth  the  floor,  the 
trees  its  walls;  Nature's  bowers  are  their 
boudoirs.  All  created  beings  are  their  family, 
the  whole  earth  their  country.  And  the  whole 
earth  is  one  large,  beautiful  garden,  the  rich- 
est and  most  beautiful  garden  of  flowers  and 
fruits  and  songbirds.  But  more  beautiful  than 
the  garden  are  the  divine  men  and  women  who 
sanctify  its  soil  by  their  walking,  at  whose  ap- 
proach near  them  the  trees  worship  them  with 
showers  of  flowers  and  offers  of  their  fruits 
as  love-gifts. 

70 


THE    GOLDEN   AGE. 

This  is  the  long-forgotten,  and  now  mis- 
understood, misinterpreted  Earth-Garden  of 
the  Golden  Age  called  in  the  Old  Testament 
ti:e  Garden  of  Eden.  They  are  all  now  try- 
ing to  locate  it,  some  people  in  Syria,  others 
in  Egypt,  others  eleswhere,  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  the  Garden  of  Eden  was  located  upon 
the  whole  earth.  The  word  "Eden"  even  is 
the  corruption  of  the  Sanscrit  word  "adhan" 
(Home).  The  whole  earth  becomes  this 
"Adhan" — the  Home  of  all  humanity,  of 
mortal  souls,  the  Pleasure-Garden  for  angels 
on  earth  to  roam  about  and  sport  in.  This  Gar- 
den is  the  physical  manifestation  of  a  higher 
plane,  created  as  the  abiding  place  of  mortal 
man  in  temporary  state  of  spiritual  perfection. 
They  live  a  perfectly  natural  life,  feeling  them- 
selves as  parts  of  Nature,  breathing  in  unison 
with  the  breath  of  sky  and  air  and  tree  and 
grass  and  beast  and  bird,  their  souls  in  tune 
with  the  souls  of  gods  and  angels  and  In- 
finity Itself. 

Among  themselves  they  feel  a  Oneness 
which  only  the  most  sublimated  souls,  who 
have  realized  their  atoneness  with  the  all- 

71 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

pervading  Spirit,  can  feel.  All  humanity  feels 
as  one  man,  and  the  only  distinction  they  find 
in  this  Oneness  is  in  the  little  difference  in  the 
formation  of  the  male  and  female  bodies,  al- 
though this  outward  perception  of  this  external 
difference  in  some  details  of  the  physical 
structure  does  not  influence  the  feeling  of 
unity  within.  Still  the  difference  creates  this 
much  distinction  that  the  women  and  men  see 
and  feel  that  they  are  the  complements  of 
each  other  and  the  difference  in  bodily 
structure  expresses  this  fact.  All  men  feel 
all  women  are  as  one  and  all  women  feel  all 
men  are  as  one,  so  that,  such  is  the  feeling  of 
unity  which  pervades  the  Golden  Age  people 
of  the  earth  that  all  men  and  women  of  that 
age  can  be  called  as  One  Man  and  One  Woman. 
This  is  the  state  of  the  human  society  indicated 
by  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve.  Adam  is  the 
typical  man  and  Eve  the  typical  woman  of  the 
Golden  Age.  Even  the  names  bear  testimony 
to  this  fact.  The  word  Adam  is  a  corruption 
of  the  Sanscrit  word  "Adim"  which  means 
primeval,  so  that  Adam  means  primeval  man. 
The  word  Eve  likewise  is  a  corruption  of  the 
72 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

Sanskrit  word  "Heva"  or  primeval  woman. 
"Heva"  means  life  and  love — mother  of  crea- 
tion. From  Mother  Nature  all  things  evolve, 
through  the  mother  all  things  come  to  life, 
therefore  is  mother  "life."  The  life  of  all 
things  is  motherhood — Life  and  Love  com- 
bined is  Mother.  Mother !  It  is  the  music  of 
the  spheres — Life  and  Love — the  grandest 
sound,  the  music  of  the  Creator,  one  grand 
chord  in  the  Music  of  the  Universe.  Love 
and  Life — O  Blessed  sound,  the  Lord's  Own 
Music — sweet,  profound ! 

The  spiritual  beauty  of  these  primeval  peo- 
ple— the  Adams  and  Eves — shows  itself  in 
their  physical  forms.  Their  physical  forms, 
symmetry  and  expressions  are  ideally  beauti- 
ful ;  these  fashion  and  shine  forth  the  spirit  of 
harmony  which  dwells  within  them.  It  may 
be  in  truth  said  of  them  that  they  are  made  in 
the  Image  of  God,  and  the  truth  of  this  state- 
ment grows  upon  us  when  we  remember  that 
they  live  and  feel  that  they  live  in  the  Es- 
sence of  Love — live  and  breathe  and  have 
their  being  moved  spontaneously  by  the  Spirit 
73 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

which    is    the    inmost    life   and    force    of   all 
Existence. 

This  is  living  on  the  Tree  of  Life  and  eating 
the  fruit  thereof  mentioned  metaphorically  in 
the  Old  Testament.  Love,  Universal  Love, 
unmixed,  Absolute  Love  is  the  only  Life. 
When  we  lose  sight  of  this  Ideal,  this  sub- 
stance of  life,  we  fall.  So  long  as  our  minds 
are  filled  from  within  with  this  Love,  this 
Radiance  of  God,  and  we  think,  move  and 
act  by  its  influence  and  promptings,  so  long 
do  we  really  live  the  Life  which  is  our  real 
heritage  from  God.  The  Golden  Age  people 
live  this  life  moved  by  the  Spirit  within  them, 
the  Spirit-Life  that  makes  life  an  ecstasy  unto 
itself.  This  Life  of  Joy  Absolute  is  illumined 
by  its  own  Light  by  the  aid  of  which  they  see 
all  Nature  as  through  a  transparent  glass,  they 
see  everything  with  the  ensouled  mind's  eye — 
not  by  the  physical  eye — for  they  live  within 
that  ensouled  mind  and  rarely  come  out  to  the 
surface  called  the  physical  plane.  When  they 
do,  they  feel  as  if  the  experiences  of  that  physi- 
cal plane  are,  as  it  were,  the  experiences  of  a 
dream,  while  the  experiences  of  the  ensouled 

74 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

mind  they  feel  as  the  Reality,  the  only  Reality. 
I  have  already  said  that  the  three  Cardinal 
Attributes,  (Sattwa,  Raja  and  Tama)  Illu- 
mination, Activity  and  Darkness,  are  the  joint 
parents  of  the  Principles  which  compose  all 
creation.  When  the  forces  of  these  Attributes 
fall  into  equilibrium,  the  dissolution  of  the  uni- 
verse takes  place  and  the  equalized  Attributes 
merge  into  one  another  and  become  trans- 
formed into  a  substance  quite  different  from 
their  own.  That  substance  is  called  Shuddha 
Sattwa — Pure  Illumination.  In  Sattwa  there 
is  a  mixture  of  some  Raja  and  Tama ;  in  Raja 
there  is  a  mixture  of  some  Sattwa  and  Tama ; 
similarly,  in  Tama,  there  is  some  mixture  of 
Sattwa  and  Raja.  In  Shuddha  Sattwa,  the 
Sattwa  is  free  from  the  other  two  attributes. 
Krishna  (Absolute  Love)  is  Purest  Sattwa. 
The  equalizing  of  the  forces  of  the  Attributes 
transforms  them  into  Pure  Illumination  no 
doubt,  but  the  transformation  is  temporary. 
Krishna  (Absolute  Love)  is  Permanent  Pur- 
est Illumination.  But  even  the  temporary 
attainment,  by  the  Attributes,  of  the  Shuddha 
Sattwa  state  makes  them  for  the  time  being 

75 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

the  same  substance  as  this  First  Principle  and 
brings  about  their  absorption  into  it  as  long 
as  they  keep  in  that  state.  This  is  almost  ex- 
actly as  the  germ  of  a  tree  remains  merged 
in  and  becomes  part  and  parcel  of  the  kernel 
of  its  seed.  And  as  when  the  seed  is  put  into 
the  soil,  the  action  of  germination  separates 
from  that  kernel  the  germ  which  then  grows 
into  a  tree,  so  when  in  time  the  forces  of  the 
merged  Attributes  fall  out  of  equilibrium  by 
Raja  (Activity)  asserting  itself,  they  get  sepa- 
rated and  manifest  themselves  into  the  Uni- 
verse. At  first  the  activity  of  Raja  is  feeble 
and  Sattwa  predominates.  Out  of  predom- 
inant Sattwa  springs  the  Mind,  Raja  brings 
forth  the  Ten  Senses  and  Tama  the  Five 
Essences  and  the  Five  Gross  Forms  of  matter. 
And  all  objects  and  animals  and  men  and  gods 
and  earth  and  heaven  are  but  different  degrees 
of  blendings  of  the  Three  Attributes. 

The  Satya  Yuga  (Golden  Age)  at  the  be- 
ginning of  creation  is  so  full  of  Sattwa  (Illu- 
mination) that  all  Nature  is  made  of  materials 
almost  transparent  as  ether.  The  matter  of 
this  first  Golden  Age  is  so  fine  that  it  would  be 
76 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

invisible  to  the  eye  of  our  gross  flesh  of  this 
distant  Kali  (Iron  Age).  Even  in  the  last 
Golden  Age,  Nature  was  made  up  of  such  fine 
matter  that  it  would  look,  to  our  gross  vision 
of  this  day,  as  pictures  of  light. 

Why  is  Nature  in  the  Golden  Age  so 
ethereal?  Because  the  Attribute  of  Illumina- 
tion is  predominant  in  that  cycle.  All  is  Illu- 
mination, within  and  without.  Through  this 
illumination  the  Golden  Age  people  see  the 
Steady,  Changeless  substance  which  is  the 
Life  and  Light  of  which  the  outer  universe  is 
but  the  shadow.  And  with  the  spirit  of  this 
Changeless  Love  and  Life  and  Light  in  One 
before  their  mind's  vision,  they  cannot  but 
feel  that  its  distorted,  changeful  manifesta- 
tions called  objects  are  made  of  fabrics  of 
which  dreams  are  made  of.  Even  they  them- 
selves are  etheric  and  irridescent,  not  visible 
to  the  physical  eye  of  the  Dark  Age,  but 
always  visible  to  the  inner  eye  of  men  of  any 
age — to  the  eye  of  the  highly  evolved  man 
whose  sight  is  more  spiritual  than  physical. 
Ether  is  cognized  through  etheric  vibrations — 
light  alone  recognizes  light. 
77 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

For  the  First  Quarter  of  the  Satya  Yuga  or 
Golden  Age  (One  Thousand  Divine  Years) 
this  perfect  state  of  Universal  Holiness  pre- 
vails on  earth  and  among  mankind.  This  is 
the  original  of  the  recorded  vision  said  to  have 
been  seen  by  St.  John  the  Divine  as  embodied 
in  Chapters  20,  21  and  22  of  his  Revelations. 
This  is  the  Millennium  spoken  of  in  the  Holy 
Bible  when  Satan  (Sin — Tama — Darkness), 
it  is  said,  will  be  bound  and  cast  into  a  bot- 
tomless pit,  shut  up  and  set  a  seal  upon, 
and  holiness  will  become  triumphant  through- 
out the  world.  This  means  the  predominance 
of  Sattwa  (Illumination)  in  man  and  Nature 
and  Tama  (darkness)  will  "be  drowned  under 
it.  The  people  will  live  on  the  fruits  of  the 
Tree  of  Life— in  the  Essence  of  Love.  They 
will  live  face  to  face  with  God,  that  is,  in  per- 
fect realization  of  His  Spirit — Love.  This 
Millennium  will  begin  with  the  First  Quarter 
of  the  coming  Satya  Yuga  (Golden  Age),  the 
New  Divine  cycle  which  will  be  ushered  in 
after  the  expiration  of  the  Kali  Yuga  (also 
called  Iron  or  Dark  Age)  we  are  now  living 
in.  That  time  is  far  away  yet,  how  far  I  shall 
78 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

in  a  succeeding  Section  attempt  to  indicate. 
As  already  suggested,  the  Golden  Age  condi- 
tions of  Nature  are  the  physical  manifestation 
of  a  higher  sphere.  According  to  the  Hindoo 
Scriptures  there  are  Seven  Spheres  (Lokas) 
or  Heavens.  People  in  the  West  speak  of  the 
Seventh  Heaven.  Few  know  where  the  ex- 
pression has  come  from,  fewer  that  it  has  come 
from  the  Hindoos  who  believe  in  the  Seven 
Heavens.  The  first  is  the  Earth.  (Bhur) 
which  is  counted  as  a  heaven  because  heavenly 
joys  can  be  tasted  on  the  earth  plane.  Above 
the  Earth  is  the  Bhuba  Sphere,  the  Second 
Heaven.  Above  Bhuba  is  Swar  the  Third; 
above  Swar  is  Mahar  the  Fourth ;  above  Mahar 
is  Jana  the  Fifth;  above  Jana  is  Tapa  the 
Sixth,  and  above  Tapa  is  the  Satya  Loka 
(Seventh).  The  Golden  Age  state  of  the  earth 
is  but  a  reflection  of  this  Satya  Sphere  on  its 
Sattwa  (Transparently  Illuminated)  surface. 
The  men  and  women  are  angels  on  earth  and 
meet  and  have  communications  with  gods  and 
angels ;  and  at  times  even  Brahma,  the  Creator, 
Shiva,  the  Destroyer,  and  Vishnoo  the  Pre- 
server, come  down  on  earth  and  hold  converse 
79 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

with  these  perfectly  pure  human  beings. 
Earth  then  is  "Heaven  Below,"  and  it  is  hard 
to  tell,  when  men  mingle  with  the  gods  and 
angels  when  the  latter  come  down  to  meet 
them,  which  are  the  gods  and  angels  and  which 
are  the  men. 

Saint  John's  Revelation  21  in  the  Holy  Bi- 
ble attempts  to  give  some  glimpse  of  this  pic- 
ture of  the  Golden  Age : 

"And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth ; 
for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were 
passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more  sea. 

"2.  And  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  new 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her 
husband. 

"3.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven 
saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with 
men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they 
shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be 
with  them,  and  be  their  God. 

"4.  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
nor  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be 
any  more  pain ;  for  the  former  things  are 
passed  away." 

80 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

What  St.  John  describes  as  "a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth"  is  the  illuminated  heaven 
and  earth — illuminated  by  Sattwa,  which  de- 
stroys the  darkness  (Tama)  of  the  preceding 
Kali  (Iron)  Age  which  pervades  Nature  dur- 
ing its  sway.  The  "holy  city,  new  Jerusalem, 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,"  is  the 
reflection  of  the  Satya  Loka  (the  Heaven  of 
Truth),  which  comes  down  as  it  were  and  mir- 
rors itself  on  earth.  The  Golden  Age  earth 
is  really  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  God, 
for,  in  the  Hindoo  Scriptures,  Earth  has  been 
called  the  Bride  of  Vishnoo  (God).  The  mean- 
ing of  the  third  verse  can  be  more  easily  un- 
derstood as  it  speaks  of  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  Golden  Age  I  have  described  al- 
ready. 

The  fourth  verse  supports  the  fact  of  the 
unbroken  peace  and  happiness  which  dwells 
on  earth  during  the  Golden  Age.  Men  know 
no  sorrow,  nor  crying,  nor  pain.  They  are 
happy  and  are  ever  filled  with  joy.  "And 
there  shall  be  no  more  death" — this  is  very 
important  testimony  to  the  one  statement  in 

81 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

the  Hindoo  Scriptures  about  the  Golden  Age 
men  and  women  which  is  more  apt  to  be  dis- 
credited than  any  other.  In  them  it  is  said 
that  in  the  Golden  Age  men  and  women  can 
live  for  one  hundred  thousand  years  and  die 
at  will,  which  is  corroborated  by  St.  John, 
who  says,  "and  there  shall  be  no  more  death." 
Life  in  the  Golden  Age,  say  the  Hindoo 
Books,  is  sustained  by  the  marrow  of  the  bones ; 
man  lives  as  long  as  there  is  marrow  in  his 
bones.  Death  and  disease  are  caused  by  ac- 
cumulation of  sin,  which  is  the  result  of  im- 
proper, unnatural  living,  living,  that  is,  in  vio- 
lation of  Nature's  spiritual  laws.  The  Golden 
Age  men  live  in  absolute  harmony  with  these 
laws,  and  are  therefore  liable  neither  to  death 
nor  to  disease.  Men  are  filled,  in  this  age,  "in 
full  measure  of  virtue"  and  sin  has  no  place  in 
it,  not  a  trace  of  it  anywhere. 

This  is  the  state  of  Nature  and  human  so- 
ciety which  is  reproduced  in  the  beginning  and 
first  quarter  of  every  Golden  Age,  which  forms 
the  first  largest  section  of  every  Divine  Cycle. 
This  is  real  Universal  Brotherhood,  the  union 
of  soul  to  soul  being  brought  about  by  the 
82 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE. 

general  recognition  of  the  One  Spirit  which 
is  the  root,  sustenance  and  life  of  all  mani- 
festations in  Nature.  Spirit  only  makes  man 
brotherly,  and  the  feeling  of  the  One  and  the 
Same  spirit  is  the  source  of  true  brotherhood, 
and  until  One  Love  is  for  all,  souls  shall  be 
separated  and  countries  will  war  with  coun- 
tries. Every  one  in  the  Golden  Age  looks  upon 
every  one  else  as  himself,  as  it  were.  It  is 
more  than  Ideal  Brotherhood  in  this  state  of 
society ;  it  is  real,  practical,  spontaneous  broth- 
erhood, brought  about  by  the  Attribute  of  Illu- 
mination having  full  play  within  all  created 
matter,  objects  and  beings.  They  are  united 
from  within,  not  through  outside  forces,  and 
so  close  and  natural  is  the  union  that  they  do 
not  realize  that  it  is  anything  unusual  at  all, 
even  in  the  deep  demonstrations  of  spontane- 
ous love  which  they  feel  for  one  another. 

If  such  is  the  high  state  of  perfection  which 
men  attain  in  the  Golden  Age,  the  animal  and 
the  vegetable  kingdoms  also  share  the  bene- 
fit of  the  predominance  of  illumination  in  Na- 
ture, of  which  men  and  animals  and  vege- 
tation are  but  different  phases  of  manifesta- 

83 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

tions.  *We  have  read  in  the  so-called  fables 
and  fairy-books  of  a  time  in  which  animals 
were  wont  to  speak,  and  as  in  our  day  they 
do  not  speak  at  all,  we  regard  such  statements 
and  stories  as  myths.  But  they  are  not  myths, 
however  absurd  they  may  strike  us,  viewed 
from  our  practical  experiences  of  animals  in 
our  Kali  Age  life.  If  the  animals  of  this 
Kali  (Dark)  Age  cannot  speak,  that  is  no  rea- 
son why  animals  of  an  enlightened  age  should 
not  be  able  to  speak.  But  this  is  what  forms 
the  chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of  our  believing 
in  such  stories.  We  have  been  hypnotized 
by  our  conceit  into  believing  that  ours  is  the 
most  enlightened  age  and  that  we  are  far 
ahead  in  enlightenment  and  advancement  of 
intellect  of  our  remote  ancestors  of,  what  we 
complacently  term,  the  "primitive"  ages,  mean- 
ing thereby  ages  in  which  men  were  either 
savages  or  half-savages.  If  this  were  true, 
the  animals  of  those  ages  could  be  imagined 
as  worse  in  habits,  powers  and  instincts  than 
those  of  our  "advanced"  age.  Alas,  however, 
it  is  not  true !  Our  remotest  ancestors,  whom 
we,  in  our  dense  ignorance  of  facts  of  that 
84 


THE    GOLDEN   AGE. 

remote  past,  love  to  call  savages,  were  such 
giants  in  intellect,  spirituality  and  moral  force 
that  our  average  best  spiritual,  intellectual  and 
moral  men  cannot  be  compared  with  them. 
We  are  indeed  fast  losing  our  moral  depth 
which  was  the  sheet-anchor  of  their  character. 
Why?  Because  our  minds  are  getting  more 
and  more  dense  than  those  of  even  the  near 
past,  not  to  speak  of  those  of  the  remote  ages. 
"Why?  Because  Nature  herself  is  getting 
denser  and  denser  every  day  with  the  grow- 
ing influence  of  Tama  (Darkness)  which  is 
the  ruling  attribute  of  this  Iron  Age.  We  are 
the  products  of  Nature — we  all,  men  and 
beasts  and  trees  and  grass.  Our  density  is  to 
be  traced  to  our  parent — Dame  Nature.  This 
growing  density  which  pervades  our  minds  is 
daily  making  us  less  spiritual  and  intellectual 
than  our  forefathers.  No  wonder  it  has  af- 
fected the  body  and  senses  of  animals  as  well. 
Illuminated  Nature  illuminates  animals  as 
well  in  the  Satya  Yuga.  Animals  then  have 
more  intelligence,  better  perception  and  keener 
instincts  than  now,  and  share  the  love-spirit 
of  which  all  earth  is  full.  They  talk  like  man, 
85 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

although  not  in  the  same  clear  and  sweet  voice 
as  man.  They  roam  about  with  men  and  love 
one  another  as  men  do.  There  are  no  domes- 
tic animals  in  this  part  of  the  Golden  Age, 
for  man  has  no  home  or  house.  There  are  no 
wild  animals,  for  all  animals  are  tame,  tamed 
by  the  spirit  of  harmony  within  and  without 
them.  The  cow  roams  about  free,  giving  milk 
to  whoever  will  drink  it  out  of  her  udder. 

The  trees  in  the  Satya  Yuga  are  large  and 
tall  in  proportion  to  the  height  of  men,  which 
is  21  cubits.  They  are  overladen  with  sweet- 
est and  juiciest  fruits.  All  kinds  of  corn  grow 
wild  and  abundantly  without  any  tending  or 
cultivation.  The  whole  earth  is  a  natural  gar- 
den, orchard  and  granary  for  all  created  beings 
to  enjoy  and  draw  sustenance  from  when 
needed.  Here  I  quote  a  poem  written  under 
inspiration  after  seeing  a  trance-vision  of  the 
Golden  Age,  by  one  of  my  students,  Miss  Rose 
R.  Anthon : 

Palpitating   with   love, 
Like  a  mother's  breast, 

As  she  views  her  babe 
As  it  sinks  to  rest. 

86 


THE   GOLDEN  AGE. 

Like  a  million  bees 
Throbbing  with  life, 

Each  cell  a  world 
In  the  citied  hive. 

This   was  the  land 

I  slept  to  see, 
The  land  my  dream 

Unfolded  to  me. 

Here  Love  did  reign, 
Love  life  did  greet, 

Life  crowned  with  love 
The  heart  did  meet. 

Here  wondrous  song 
The  birds  did  sing, 

And  oh  the  echoes 
The  skies  did  ring! 

And  oh  the  peace 

The  heart  did  know! 
And  oh  the  lack 

Of  haunting  woe! 

87 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Here  man  commune 
With  God  did  hold, 

The  doe  ran  abreast 
With  the  lion  bold. 

The  hawk  and  the   dove 
Shared  one  nest; 

The  lamb  and  leopard 
Suckled  one  breast. 

The  tender  nurslings, 
The  soft  young  things, 

Eager  their  minds, 
Like  outspread  wings. 

The  flowers  nodded 

Their  faces  fair; 
Sunbeams  embraced 

The  perfumed  air. 

Little   children 

With  Nature  grew; 
Skies  overhead, 

'Neath  feet  the  dew. 

88 


THE   GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  happy  youth 
The  maid  did  woo, 

Free  as  the  stars 
The  moon  did  view. 

With  joy  I  beheld, 
In  this  sweet  land 

Unspoilt  was  love 
By  sin's  hot  hand. 

No  knots  of  guile 
The  heart  did  bind^ 

No  souring  doubts 
Disturbed  the  mind. 

Here  livid  hate 
No  place  did  hold; 

Jackal  and  calf 
Entered  one  fold. 

Nor  envy's  sneer 

Belined  the  face, 
Nor  fiery  lust 

Filched  beauty's  grace. 

89 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

But  rayed  with  peace 

Was  every  eye, 
And  all  unknown 

Was  panting  sigh. 

In  every  heart 

Was  Love  enthroned, 
And  every  voice 

Had  Hope  entoned. 

Such  was  the  land 

I  slept  to  see, 
The  land  my  dream 

Unfolded  to  me. 


90 


SECTION    VI. 

THE  SILVER  AGE. 

THUS,  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  Golden 
Age,  covering  1,000  divine  years,  which  are 
equal  to  360,000  lunar  years,  its  predominant 
spirituality  sustains  itself  in  its  full  vigor. 
The  next  quarter  is  almost  equally  powerful 
in  spirituality.  But  after  the  middle  is  passed, 
a  little  decline  is  perceptible,  not  so  much  in 
spirituality  as  in  the  outward  habits  of  the 
people.  During  this  period  the  Vedic  truths 
reveal  themselves  through  the  mediums  of 
the  entranced  minds  of  some  of  the  highly 
illuminated  men.  Now,  what  is  a  Vedic 
truth?  It  is  an  expression  in  sound-form  of 
one  of  the  inmost  laws  of  Nature.  Before  this 
period  the  Golden  Age  people  breathe,  move 
and  have  their  being  in  these  laws — as  sensi- 
tive embodiments  of  these  laws.  They  are,  as 
it  were,  moving  Vedas — human  flesh-vehicles 
moved  and  manipulated  from  within  by  the 
basic  laws  of  all  Existence.  The  predominant 

91 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Sattwa  in  its  extreme  purity,  which  is  the 
essence  of  physical  Nature  in  the  Golden  Age, 
blends  with  these  laws  so  harmoniously  that 
they  form  the  self-acting  mechanism  of  all 
motion  of  its  materialized  counterpart.  So 
long  as  these  people  are  in  perfect  unison  with 
these  inner  laws,  vibrating  spontaneously  with 
their  vibrations,  they  are  quite  unconscious  of 
the  operations  of  these  laws,  or  even  of  the 
laws  themselves  within  them ;  so  long  they  live 
as  unconscious  moving  manifestations  of  the 
laws.  But  the  moment  they  become  conscious 
of  them,  then  that  consciousness  expresses 
itself  in  the  form  of  thoughts,  and  these 
thoughts  find  expression  in  words  through  the 
medium  of  some  entranced  minds.  These  are 
called  the  Eternal  Truths  of  the  Veda,  truths 
which  are  the  foundations  and  sources  of  all 
truths  promulgated  by  the  illumined  sages  of 
all  climes  and  times  ever  afterwards. 

Just  as,  so  long  as  we  are  perfectly  healthy, 
we  remain  unconscious  of  our  health  and  enjoy 
the  blessing  of  health  most;  but  when  some 
disorder  creeps  into  our  system,  we  become 
conscious  of  it  and  feel  indisposed  and  try  to 

93 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

adjust  its  lost  equilibrium.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  third  quarter  of  the  Golden  Age,  a  slight 
disorder  is  felt  in  the  spiritual  health  of  the 
people.  Then  a  readjustment  of  the  slight 
loss  of  the  equilibrium  is  made  with  the  aid  of 
contemplation  of  the  meaning  of  these  Vedic 
truths  which  are  revealed  through  the  still 
perfectly  spiritual  souls.  Before  this  time  all 
of  them  live  the  truths  unconsciously;  now 
they  live  the  truths  consciously.  This  indi- 
cates their  fall  from  their  absolutely  healthy 
state  of  spirituality.  The  degeneration  in- 
creases with  time  at  a  very  slow  rate,  however, 
for  Sattwa  is  still  predominant,  although  Raja 
(Activity)  has  begun  to  assert  itself  more  and 
more  until  the  end  of  the  Golden  Age  is 
reached,  when  the  action  of  Raja  becomes 
fully  perceptible. 

This  pronounced  assertion  of  Raja  within  all 
Nature  is  betrayed  by  outward  signs  and  symp- 
toms. Distinct  changes  are  observable  in  the 
thoughts  and  actions  of  men,  while  there  is 
decrease  in  the  wild  natural  growth  and  pro- 
ducts of  edible  fruits,  roots  and  corn.  These 
main  features  of  change  mark  the  end  of  Satya 

93 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Yuga  (Golden  Age)  and  the  beginning  of  the 
Treta  Yuga  (Silver  Age). 

From  natural  all-absorbing,  inward  concen- 
tration upon  the  basic  principle  of  the  Uni- 
verse— Love — and  drawing  absolute  never- 
failing  happiness  therefrom,  most  people  now 
begin  to  look  outwards  for  happiness,  trying  to 
draw  it  from  the  enjoyment  of  material  objects. 
A  small  portion,  however,  still  retains  the  same 
inward  look  and  enjoys  the  primeval  ecstatic 
condition  of  the  mind.  These  still  live  on  the 
Tree  of  Life.  But  those  who  look  outwards 
and  try  to  draw  happiness  from  without,  eat 
for  the  first  time  of  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of 
Knowledge,  as  indicated  by  the  figurative  lan- 
guage of  the  Christian  Bible.  So  long  as  they 
do  not  look  outwards,  they  do  not  know  of 
material  pleasure,  pleasure  which  is  mixed 
with  .pain,  Rajasic  pleasure,  pleasure  which 
lasts  for  only  a  short  while,  pleasure  which  has 
reaction  of  pain  or  cessation. 

This  knowledge  of  material  pleasure  and 
hankering  for  securing  them  is  the  fall  of 
humanity.  The  cause  of  this  outward-looking 
is  to  be  traced  to  the  assertion  of  the  Cardinal 

94 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

Attribute  of  Activity  (Raja)  within  Nature 
rather  than  to  any  fault  in  her  products  them- 
selves. Predominant  Sattwa  (Illumination) 
maintains  the  harmony  in  the  mind  induced  by 
calm  concentration  upon  one  object  and  that 
object  a  steady,  Changeless  one.  Predominant 
Raja  (Activity)  destroys  this  harmony  and 
calmness  by  making  the  mind  active  with 
thoughts  of  many  objects.  This  state  of  activ- 
ity itself  turns  the  point  of  the  mind's  ken  out- 
wards and  disturbs  its  harmony.  The  mind 
is  active  only  when  it  has  to  deal  with  the  im- 
pressions of  more  than  one  object..  When  the 
surface  of  a  mirror  is  turned  towards  the  sky, 
it  reflects  only  that  one  blue  sky.  When  it  is 
turned  towards  the  earth  it  reflects  many  ob- 
jects. Such  is  the  case  with  the  mirror  of  the 
mind.  When  it  is  turned  inwards  to  the  soul, 
it  reflects  its  one  all-pervading,  colorless  radi- 
ance and  is  therefore  tranquil  and  happy. 
When  it  is  turned  outwards,  it  reflects  the 
many-colored  objects  and  is  disturbed  by  their 
conflicting  attributes. 

All  through  the  Golden  Age  the  mirror  of 
the  human  mind  is  kept  turned  inwards  to 

95 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  soul  and  reflects  nothing  but  the  soul  of 
things.    At  the  end  of  that  blessed  period,  the 
natural  assertion  of  Raja  turns  it  outwards  to 
external  objects  which  at  once  reflect  them- 
selves in  it.     From  this  time  people  begin  to 
take  serious  cognizance  of  their  surroundings 
and  privileges,  and  to  think  of  material  enjoy- 
ment, to  taste  material  pleasures.     Living  the 
natural  Love-Life  of  the  Golden  Age  is  living 
on  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life.    Love  alone 
is  life ;  it  is  the  source  of  all  life.    The  dawn- 
ing of  the  knowledge  of  material  pleasure  is 
eating  for  the  first  time  of  the  fruit  of  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge — material  knowledge.  The 
first  hankering  for  it  is  the  persuasive  voice  of 
the  Evil  One,  called  in  Sanscrit,  Maya.    Maya 
means  illusion,  that  which  is  unsubstantial  to 
the  inner  sight  yet  seems  and  looks  substantial 
to  our  outer  (material)  sight.    Good  and  evil 
may  be  called  the  equivalents  of  the  two  San- 
scrit words  "Sat"  and  "Asat."    Good  is  "Sat" 
which  means  that  which  exists  by  itself,  which 
has  substance.     Evil  is  "Asat"  which  means 
non-existent,    which   has   no    existence    (sub- 
stance)   of  its  own.     Good  is  God    (Love). 

96 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

Evil  is  that  which  partakes  of,  or  is  related  to, 
the  phases  of  unsubstantial  (changeful)  mani- 
festations which  form  the  shroud  of  the  only 
Reality — Love.  To  have  our  mind's  vision 
turned  from  this  Reality  to  its  Unreal  Shroud 
and  mistaking  it  as  the  Real,  constitutes  our 
fall — the  Fall  of  Mankind  spoken  of  in  the 
Bible.  As  long  as  we  know  nothing  but  the 
Truth  and  live  absolutely  in  that  Truth,  we 
have  no  idea  of  the  False  (evil),  the  deceptive 
real-looking  Unreal.  But  the  moment  we  are 
attracted  by  the  Unreal  and  live  in  it,  we  begin 
to  have  knowledge  of  both  Good  (the  Real) 
and  Evil  (the  Unreal).  We  become  so  at- 
tached to  the  Unreal  that  we  cannot  leave  it, 
although  we  know  it  to  be  Unreal  (evil).  Here 
is  born  what  is  called  "conscience,"  which  is 
the  warner  of  sin — this  living  in  the  Unreal 
though  we  know  it  is  so  and  that  we  should 
not  live  in  it. 

This  is  the  state  of  mind  of  the  major  por- 
tion of  the  Silver  Age  people.  With  this  out- 
ward-looking of  their  mind  begins  the  hunting 
for  Absolute  Happiness  on  the  surface  of  life, 
instead  of  in  its  deepest  depth  where  it  dwells. 

97 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

This  search  for  it  through  material  pleasures 
ends  in  this  real  object  of  that  search  being 
lost  from  their  view  and  the  pleasures  them- 
selves taking  its  place.  This  last  stage  of 
mental  degradation  is  not  true,  however,  of 
all  the  people  of  the  age.  A  small  portion  still 
retain  much  of  the  high  spirituality  of  the 
Golden  Age.  Some  are  swayed  by  predomi- 
nant Raja,  others  are  ruled  by  Raja  and  Tama, 
while  others  are  covered  almost  entirely  by 
Tama.  This  leads  to  the  division  of  the 
people  into  castes.  Those  who  are  uninflu- 
enced by  the  assertive  Raja  are  called  Brah- 
mans;  those  swayed  by  Raja  are  called  Ksha- 
triyas;  those  by  Raja  and  Tama  are  called 
Vaishyas;  those  mostly  ruled  by  Tama  are 
called  Sudras.  I  have  treated  the  caste  system 
at  some  length  in  the  next  section. 

Tastes  for  material  comforts  involve  house- 
keeping, and  housekeeping  is  impracticable 
without  a  house.  The  people  therefore  build 
houses  to  live  in  for  the  first  time  in  the  De- 
generation period  of  the  Satya  Yuga.  The 
Treta  is  called  the  Silver  Age  because  gold, 
the  spiritual  metal,  becomes  less  abundant  with 

98 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

the  decrease  in  spirituality  in  Nature,  and  sil- 
ver is  found  in  abundance.  People  in  the  Satya 
Yuga  use  gold  for  household  utensils,  hence 
the  Satya  Yuga  is  called  the  Golden  Age.  The 
period  in  which  gold  plates  come  into  use  does 
not  belong  to  the  Golden  Age  proper.  It  is 
used  in  what  is  called  the  Degeneration  (San- 
dhyangsa)  period  of  the  Golden  Age.  Every 
Age  has  a  Junction  period  and  a  Degeneration 
period,  called  in  the  Hindoo  Scriptures,  the 
Twilight  Periods.  These  periods  are  of  equal 
length.  The  morning  Twilight  period  of  the 
Satya  Yuga  is  400  divine  years,  equal  to  144,- 
ooo  lunar  years.  Of  the  same  length  is  its 
evening  Twilight  period.  The  morning  Twi- 
light period  represents  the  Junction  period, 
the  junction  between  the  previous  Kali  and 
the  Satya  Yugas.  The  evening  Twilight 
period  may  be  called  the  .degeneration  of  the 
Satya  Yuga.  It  is  in  this  degeneration  period 
covering  144,000  years,  that  Raja  asserts  itself 
and  people  begin  to  turn  to  material  pleasures, 
build  houses,  wear  clothes,  take  to  house- 
keeping, eat  cooked  food  and  generally  use 
gold  plates,  gold  being  abundant  and  on  ac- 
99 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

count  of  its  possessing  pure  (spiritual)  mag- 
netism, purer  than  that  of  other  metals. 

The  average  human  height  in  the  Silver 
Age  is  14  cubit  or  21  feet,  average  longevity 
of  human  life  is  10,000  years ;  human  vitality 
is  centered  in  the  strength  of  the  bones ;  man 
lives  as  long  as  his  bones  sustain  their  strength. 
In  the  Golden  Age  men  enjoy  full  measure  of 
spirituality.  Virtue  resides  in  them,  in  the 
language  of  the  Shastras,  in  full  four  quarters. 
In  the  Treta,  owing  to  the  decrease  of  spirit- 
uality, virtue  loses  one-quarter  and  retains 
three.  In  the  Golden  Age,  they  are  natural 
embodiments  of  Vedic  wisdom.  In  the  Treta, 
they  have  to  study  that  wisdom,  as  it  ex- 
presses itself  through  entranced  Sages,  to  keep 
up  spirituality.  And  as  the  Silver  Age  ad- 
vances, the  increased  influence  of  more  and 
more  assertive  Raja  within  them  makes  it  more 
and  more  imperative  on  all  religious  teachers 
and  kings  to  direct  people's  attention  to  the 
necessity  of  wider  and  deeper  study  and  prac- 
tice of  Vedic  truths. 

As  I  have  said,  in  the  Golden  Age  there  are 
no  carnal  relations  between  man  and  woman, 

100 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

so  is  there  none  in  the  Silver  Age,  although 
man  and  woman  as  husband  and  wife  live  to- 
gether in  houses,  have  housekeeping  and  enjoy 
material  comforts.  Yet,  strange  as  it  will 
strike  most  of  us  here  at  this  distance  of  time, 
the  Golden  Age  and  Silver  Age  women  bear 
and  give  birth  to  children.  The  child  is  born 
in  the  womb  of  its  mother  at  the  wish  and 
command  of  the  husband.  The  wife  asks  her 
husband  for  a  child,  and  the  husband  of  the 
Golden  Age,  who  is  a  miniature  creator  in  the 
potency  of  his  mind-force,  says,  "So  be  it," 
and  the  wife  at  once  conceives.  But  she  has  no 
pain  of  child-bearing  or  child-birth  to  suffer 
from.  The  child  is  born  soon  after,  and,  at 
times,  almost  immediately.  In  the  Treta  Yuga, 
the  conception  takes  place  in  some  cases  in 
the  same  manner,  and,  in  most  cases,  through 
the  eating  by  the  wife  of  "charoo,"  a  mixture 
of  boiled  rice,  milk,  sugar  and  butter — mag- 
netized by  mystic  words  or  the  will-force  of  a 
psychic  husband  or  a  saint  or  a  Brahman — 
a  magnetism  which  draws  into  the  preparation 
a  disembodied  spirit  who  passes  into  the  body 
of  the  wife  through  the  food. 

101 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

The  difficulty  in  believing  this  process  of 
child  conception  lies  in  the  ignorance  which 
now  prevails  in  the  minds  of  most  people  of 
the  modern  world,  especially  in  those  of  West- 
erners, as  to  the  origin  of  conception,  as  to 
how  conception  takes  place.  The  prevailing 
idea,  formed  from  the  teachings  of  imperfect 
modern  science,  is  that  it  is  the  male  seed 
itself  planted  in  the  female  soil  that  begets 
and  develops  into  the  child.  No  greater  fal- 
lacy can  exist  than  this  idea.  Modern  science 
is  progressive,  and  in  the  process  of  time  that 
progress  will  surely  open  its  eyes  to  the  true 
fact  in  regard  to  this  matter.  It  will  then  find 
that  it  is  the  invisible  germ  hidden  inside  the 
seed,  the  subtle  form  of  organism  encased  in 
the  thickened  juice  of  the  tree  which  the 
seed  is,  that  develops  into  the  shoot  and  the 
tree  and  not  merely  the  juice  itself.  This 
subtle  organism  enters  into  the  forming  bud 
from  outside.  Without  this  incoming  subtle 
organism  no  seed  can  germinate,  neither  does 
a  seed  germinate,  as  is  well  known,  of  which 
the  germ  has  been  destroyed.  Similarly,  no 
conception  can  take  place  without  a  disem- 

102 


THE  SILVER  AGE. 

bodied  soul — a  human  germ — entering  the 
human  seed  when  planted  in  the  human  soil. 
The  juice  of  the  seed  and  the  juice  of  the  soil 
form  but  the  physical  body  of  the  child.  The 
astral  body,  which  is  encased  in  this  physical 
body,  comes  from  without  to  dwell  in  that 
seed  and  leaves  the  developed  physical  body 
at  death,  which  is  nothing  but  the  total  dis- 
organization of  the  physical  body.  The  astral 
body  never  dies  unless  it  is  destroyed  by  bring- 
ing about  absolute  equilibrium  of  the  three 
Cardinal  Attributes,  which  form  the  Ego  of 
man,  through  spiritual  development.  I  have 
treated  this  subject  more  fully  under  the  head- 
ing of  "Reincarnation." 

The  length  of  the  Silver  Age  proper  is 
3,000  divine  years,  equal  to  1,080,000  human 
(lunar)  years  with  the  two  Twilight  (the 
Junction  and  the  Degeneration)  Periods,  of 
108,000  years  each,  in  addition. 


103 


SECTION   VII. 

THE    CASTE    SYSTEM. 

I  HAVE  said  that  at  the  end  of  the  Golden 
Age  and  during  its  degeneration  period,  peo- 
ple's minds  lose  their  tranquil  equilibrium  and 
look  outwards  for  happines.  At  this  stage  of 
the  disturbance  within  Nature  and  humanity 
occasioned  by  the  assertion  of  the  Raja  attri- 
bute, the  caste  system  comes  into  existence. 
The  object  of  the  caste  system  is  to  preserve 
as  much  order  and  harmony  in  human  society 
as  possible  and  prevent  its  disruption  into  in- 
dividual units.  In  the  Golden  Age  all  the  peo- 
ple are  as  one  family,  in  the  Silver  Age  they 
are  divided  into  four  families,  divided  accord- 
ing to  their  inclinations,  habits  and  actions, 
and  harmonious  relations  being  established 
with  one  another  through  laws  and  inter- 
dependence. Those  who  still  retain  their  per- 
fected spirituality  by  subduing  the  influence 
of  Raja  are  called  Brahmans  which  means 
those  who  know  or  still  dwell  in  Brahm — the 

104 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

Spirit  of  God.  They  are  considered  the  head 
of  the  other  castes  because  they  are  the  em- 
bodiments of  spiritual  wisdom  which  is  the 
chiefest  requisite  in  the  building  of  character 
and  the  higher  development  of  the  human 
soul.  Some  of  them  still  retain  their  Golden 
Age  habits  of  life,  others  clothe  themselves 
with  the  barks  of  trees  and  live  on  fruits  and 
nuts  and  roots  in  the  forests,  in  huts  made  of 
tree-trunks  and  leaves.  They  pass  their  days 
and  nights  in  contemplation  of  the  Deity,  the 
Divine  Spirit  and  its  Laws  operating  within 
Nature  and  inculcate  these  truths  into  the 
minds  of  the  other  classes  of  people. 

Those  who,  being  unable  to  subdue  the  influ- 
ence of  Raja,  are  swayed  by  passions  and  be- 
come bold,  spirited  and  filled  with  material 
desires  are  called  Kshatriyas.  They  become 
rulers  of  the  other  two  castes.  These  are  the 
first  Kings  and  Rulers  of  men.  But  they  rule 
according  to  the  injunctions  of  inspired  Codes 
of  laws,  laws  which  are  propounded  with  the 
object  of  the  highest  good  of  humanity  in 
view,  as  well  as  the  propagation  of  peace  and 
goodwill  among  all  classes  of  people. 

105 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

According  to  these  laws  the  King's  first 
duty  is  to  look  to  the  material  welfare  of  his 
subjects;  the  second  is  to  protect  them  from 
injustice  and  aggression;  the  third  is  to  help 
their  moral  and  spiritual  development;  in 
short,  the  King's  duty  is  to  treat  his  subjects 
as  his  children.  If  any  King  fail  to  perform 
these  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  subjects 
or  become  aggressive  towards  them,  he  is  im- 
mediately removed  from  his  throne  by  the 
Brahmans  (Rishis),  the  all-powerful  Brah- 
mans,  who  always  have  the  welfare  of  God's 
creatures  at  heart,  and  whose  spiritual  powers 
are  mightier  than  kingly  weapons  and  might. 
The  Brahmans  are  called  the  "gods  of  earth" 
(Bhudevas)  on  account  of  their  disinterested 
love  of  humanity  and  self-sacrificing  devotion 
for  its  welfare  and  their  irresistible  spiritual 
and  psychical  powers  to  carry  their  objects  for 
the  good  of  humanity  into  action. 

Those  among  the  Golden  Age  people  in 
whom  excessive  action  of  Raja  develops  some 
Tama  as  well,  and  partly  covers  the  Sattwa 
Attribute,  form  yet  another  distinct  caste. 
They  are  called  Vaishyas.  While  the  Ksha- 

106 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

triyas  occupy  themselves  in  taking  over  the 
control  and  government  of  countries  and  peo- 
ples, the  Vaishyas  take  to  the  occupation  of 
agriculture,  commerce  and  raising  of  cattle, 
as  much  in  their  own  individual  material  in- 
terests as  in  the  interests  of  all  humanity.  In 
the  Golden  Age,  owing  to  the  fulness  of  spirit- 
uality within  Nature,  all  kinds  of  giains  grow 
wild  and  abundant.  With  the  decrease  of  that 
spirituality  towards  its  end,  these  natural 
products  of  the  earth  diminish  in  quality  and 
quantity,  while  the  growing  material  instincts 
in  people  bring  about  their  larger  consumption, 
thereby  creating  greater  demand  for  them. 
This  increased  demand  is  supplied  by  cultiva- 
tion by  the  Vaishyas. 

Those,  again,  among  the  Golden  Age  people 
who,  owing  to  the  predominance  of  the  Tama 
Attribute  in  them,  are  filled  with  envy  and 
greed,  and  become  untruthful  and  devoid  of 
clean  habits  of  life  and  take  to  all  sorts  of  low 
means  and  ways  for  their  living  are  classed 
as  Sudras.  The  Kshatriya  rulers  compel  these 
Sudras  for  their  own  good  as  well  as  the  good 
of  all  other  classes  of  people  to  take  service 
107 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

under  the  three  upper  castes  as  domestic  ser- 
vants, so  that  by  contact  and  association  with 
their  masters  and  by  the  examples  of  their 
purer  ideas  and  habits  of  life  they  may  be 
elevated  in  morals  and  conduct. 

The  science  and  wisdom  which  are  the  foun- 
dation of  the  caste  system  of  the  Silver  Age 
people  and  which  still  form  the  backbone  of 
the  degenerate  remnants  of  these  primeval 
people,  now  known  as  Hindoos,  are  worthy 
of  study  of  all  civilized  mankind  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  It  is  the  scientific  law  of  the  caste 
system  which  has  preserved  the  indestructible 
individuality  of  the  Hindoos  as  a  race ;  it  is  the 
chief  source  of  strength  which  has  supplied 
their  inexhaustible  vitality  as  a  nation ;  the 
never  failing  force  which  has  insured  the  per- 
manency of  their  existence  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  It  is  a  system,  the  absence  of  which  in 
the  organization  of  all  other  human  societies, 
modern  and  ancient,  has  been  the  cause  of 
their  decay  and  death.  The  Hindoo  caste  sys- 
tem is  based  upon  laws  of  the  inmost  science 
of  life,  the  laws  which  modern  scientists  are 
trying  so  hard  and  yet  so  hopelessly  to  dis- 

108 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

cover  and  understand  through  wrong  pro- 
cesses of  investigation.  Modern  scientists 
are  boastful  of  their  achievements  in  the  field 
of  discovery  of  Nature's  laws  and  imagine 
they  have  learned  almost  all  of  Nature's  se- 
crets, while  in  truth  they  know  but  a  few  of 
her  surface-laws  the  mainsprings  of  which 
are  to  be  found  deep  down  in  the  mental  and 
spiritual  strata  of  which  they  even  dream  not 
of — a  realm  which  must  ever  remain  closed  to 
purely  objective  investigation. 

It  is  as  wrong  to  try  to  study  Nature  from 
the  operations  of  her  physical  laws  as  to  govern 
and  guide  human  beings  by  the  aid  of  the  de- 
ceptive light  of  those  laws.  The  physical  is 
the  manifestation  of  the  mental  plane,  as  the 
mental  is  the  manifestation  of  the  spiritual 
plane,  as  I  have  shown  in  previous  Sections. 
The  phenomena  of  the  physical  plane  of  Na- 
ture are  deceptive  to  the  purely  physical  vision 
because  they  are  the  product  of  Tama — dark- 
ened Raja.  Deceptive  also  are  the  phenomena 
of  the  mental  plane — though  not  as  deceptive 
as  those  of  the  physical — to  a  mental  vision  the 
light  of  which  is  not  derived  from  the  spiritual 

109 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

plane — the  mysterious  machine  room  which 
alone  supplies  the  life-substance  and  spring  of 
action  to  the  mental  and  physical  planes.  The 
student  of  physical  and  mental  Nature  who  is 
not  provided  with  the  microscope  of  spiritual 
insight  is  apt  almost  invariably  to  read  her  in 
both  these  aspects  incorrectly.  He  should  not, 
therefore,  be  considered  a  safe  guide  for  the 
healthy  and  harmonious  development  of  hu- 
man character,  which  is  but  a  part  and  phase 
of  one  whole  Nature  called  the  Universe. 

The  laws  operating  in  the  deepest  depth  of 
Nature  can  only  be  seen  and  studied  by  the 
illumination  of  the  soul,  the  Radiance  of 
Krishna's  Body.  These  the  Brahmans,  the 
portion  of  the  Golden  Age  people  who  still 
retain  their  high  state  of  spirituality,  study  and 
learn  and  utilize  in  codifying  principles  and 
rules  for  regulating  the  daily  life  of  the  rest  of 
the  people.  The  conception  of  the  caste  sys- 
tem betrays  their  intimate  knowledge  of  these 
inner  natural  laws  upon  which  it  is  based  and 
the  profound  wisdom  with  which  its  organiza- 
tion to  the  minutest  details  is  arranged.  The 
organization  of  the  caste  system  is,  in  fact, 

no 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

devised  after  the  organization  of  the  human 
body — after  the  inner  and  the  outer  human 
body.  The  entire  caste  system  is  like  a  huge 
living  human  body — living  with  its  organs  and 
senses  in  harmonious  working  order  and  its 
mind  contributing  to  and  enjoying  the  effect 
of  that  harmony  and  feeling  the  higher  planes 
to  which  the  effect  of  that  harmony  elevates. 
^*  What  is  the  most  needed  essential  for  the 
'  healthy,  harmonious  and  useful  conduct  of 
human  life?  Love,  Intelligence  and  Wisdom. 
I  had  almost  said  Love  or  Wisdom,  for  Intelli- 
gence and  Wisdom  are  but  manifestations  of 
Love.  Intelligence  is  the  light  of  Love,  and 
wisdom  is  but  its  reflection  on  its  own  en- 
lightened shadow — the  mind.  Wisdom  like- 
wise embodies  both  Love  and  its  light.  With- 
out wisdom  a  human  being  is  like  a  wayward, 
mischievous  animal.  Our  wisdom  (intelli- 
gence and  thought)  inspire  and  guide  our 
actions.  Good  thoughts  lead  us  to  good  ac- 
tions, bad  thoughts  lead  us  to  bad  actions.  We 
are  nothing  but  our  mind  and  our  mind  is 
nothing  but  our  thoughts — commingled  effects 
of  the  reflections  upon  the  mind  of  external 


ill 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

objects  and  internal  impressions  of  previous 
reflections  of  objects,  called  Ideas.  Thoughts 
that  lead  us  to  bad  actions,  that  is  to  say,  ac- 
tions which  hurt  others  and  us  too,  which 
bring  inharmony  to  others  and  finally  to  our 
own  mind,  are  neither  beneficial  nor  useful  to 
our  life;  they  are  injurious  to  its  best  interests. 
Wisdom  (harmonious,  useful  thoughts)  is 
therefore  the  most  essential  requisite  of  hu- 
man life.  Without  it  power  and  wealth  are 
apt  always  to  be  misused  and  misdirected,  re- 
sulting in  loss  of  harmony.  And  harmony  is 
happiness,  happiness  which  is  the  goal  of  all 
our  quests  and  efforts  in  life. 
_..  Thus  the  Brahmans,  who  devote  them- 
selves absolutely  to  acquiring  wisdom  by  com- 
muning with  the  Soul  of  Nature  and  its  finest 
and  purest  attributes,  and  to  supplying  them 
to  those  who  do  not  any  more  enjoy  that  ad- 
vantage and  privilege,  naturally  form  the  head 
— the  seat  of  wisdom  and  intelligence — of  the 
social  organization,  called  the  four-castes.  The 
lower  three  castes  are  indebted  to  the  Brah- 
mans for  wisdom  which  they  receive  from 
them  in  the  form  of  lessons  and  codified  laws 

112 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

of  life  which  guide  their  daily  existence,  just 
as  every  one  of  us  is  indebted  to  our  intelli- 
gence and  wisdom  for  performing  the  func- 
tions of  life  to  our  own  and  our  neighbors' 
benefit.  Hence  the  Brahmans,  who  supply  the 
most  important  essential  of  life,  are  protected, 
provided  for  and  paid  utmost  homage  to,  by 
all  the  other  castes. 

Next  to  wisdom  comes  strength,  physical 
and  mental,  another  greatly  needed  requisite 
of  human  life.  A  man  needs  mind-force  to 
rule  his  own  mind  and  body  as  well  as  those  of 
others  to  whom  he  is  related,  in  order  to  main- 
tain harmony  within  and  without.  He  needs 
also  physical  strength  to  defend  himself  and 
others  against  attacks  and  aggressions  and 
prevent  encroachments  by  others  upon  his 
property  and  interests.  The  Kshatriyas 
(Kings)  form  and  supply  this  requisite  to  the 
four-caste  organism.  They  form  the  arms  of 
the  Caste-Body,  arms  being  symbolical  of 
strength  and  ruling  power.  Without  a  power- 
ful, noble  ruler,  all  communities  of  men  are 
liable  to  find  themselves  in  disorder  and  inhar- 
mony  and  to  suffer  from  lawlessness  and  in- 

113 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

justice,  just  as  a  man  who  has  no  strength  to 
defend  himself  from  aggression  is  liable  to  be 
robbed  of  his  possessions  and  be  miserable. 

More  important  than  the  duty  of  protecting 
the  life  and  property  of  his  subjects  is  the 
King's  duty  to  help  their  moral  and  spiritual 
well-being.  And  this  the  king  does  by  en- 
forcing the  performance  of  the  religious  duties 
appertaining  to  each  of  the  three  castes  as  en- 
joined in  the  Vedic  laws,  discovered  and  enun- 
ciated by  the  holy  ones.  Those  who  do  not 
perform  these  duties  and  practices  are  pun- 
ished by  temporary  excommunication  and,  if 
still  persistent  in  disobeying  the  injunctions, 
by  absolute  banishment  from  all  societies. 
These  early  sages  have  always  held  that  pre- 
vention is  better  and  easier  than  cure  of  dis- 
eases, physical,  mental  or  spiritual.  Regular 
spiritual  practices,  performed  daily,  form 
habits,  and  spiritual  habits  cleanse  tfi<f  impuri- ! 
ties  of  the  mind  which  then  becomes  fit  to  re- 
flect the  highest  spiritual  truths  by  the  light  of 
which  man  witnesses  the  unity  of  all  Nature,' 
feels  the  ecstasy  of  the  One  Essence  which  per- : 
vades  it  and  stands  face  to  face  with  his  Maker. 


114 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

The  next  essential  of  harmonious  human  life 
is  food.  Most  people  of  our  day  will  say  that 
food  is  rather  the  first  essential  of  life.  We, 
in  this  degenerate  age,  have  indeed  come  -to 
think  so.  But  the  Silver  Age  people,  as  well 
as  all  really  thoughtful  people  amongst  us,  do 
not  think  so.  Food  does  sustain  life,  no  doubt, 
but  that  life,  if  void  of  wisdom  and  force  of 
mind,  is  not  worth  living.  It  is  the  life  of  an 

animal   or  a  vegetable.     Food   is   essential   to 

. 

life;  so  are  wisdom  and  mental  force.^  Is  our| 
life  sustained  by  food  alone?  I  should  think 
not,  unless  it  be  the  life  of  a  man  who  is  but  a 
little  removed  from  a  beast.  Happy  thoughts 
furnish  the  chief  support  of  our  life.  Our  life 
depends  more  upon  happy  and  harmonious 
thoughts  than  food.  If  our  thoughts  are  sad 
and  gloomy,  we  do  not  enjoy  life  at  all  or  feel 
that  we  are  living,  although  we  may  eat  the 
daintiest  food,  be  surrounded  by  luxuries  and 
have  plenty  of  the  world's  goods.  Many  of 
us  destroy  this  food-sustained  life  suffering 
from  the  pangs  of  miserable  thoughts,  many 
die  of  broken  heart  and  other  diseases  brought 
on  by  the  continued  pressure  of  sad  thoughts, 

-— _ »_ .  115 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

although  well  fed  and  well  clothed  and  well 

(supplied  with  money  and  other  material  com- 
forts of  life. 

The  Vaishyas  represent  the  vital  vigor  of 
the  Four-Caste  organism,  and  as,  according  to 
the  Shastras,  the  seat  of  the  vital  vigor  is  the 
loins,  the  Vaishyas  form  the  loins  of  that  body. 
The  Silver  Age  Vaishyas  take  to  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  raising  of  cattle  and  trade  more  for 
the  weal  of  all  mankind  than  for  their  own 
personal  aggrandizement. 

The  Sudras  are  the  feet  of  the  Four-Caste 
organism,  very  important  members  of  the 
body  too.  They  represent  devotion  through 
service.  Indeed,  devotion  is  the  training 
which  each  caste  passes  through  while  fulfill- 
ing the  duties  of  its  profession.  The  Brah- 
mans  are  to  practise  meditation  on  God  and 
study  the  Veda;  the  object  is  devotion  to  the 
Supreme  Being.  The  Kshatriyas  are  to  rule 
the  other  two  castes  with  the  aid  of  the  Brah- 
mans,  with  love,  justice  and  fatherly  care  ac- 
cording to  inspired  laws;  the  object  is  to  ac- 
quire devotion  to  the  Supreme  Being.  The 
Vaishyas  are  to  till  the  land  and  raise  cattle 

116 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

only  to  serve  God's  creatures;  the  object  is  to 
cultivate  devotion  to  the  Supreme  Being 
thereby.  The  Sudras  must  serve  the  three 
pure  and  spiritual  upper  castes  for  the  purpose 
of  absorbing  their  spiritual  magnetism  through 
association  and  examples ;  the  object  is  the 
same,  cultivating  devotion  to  the  Supreme 
Being  by  loving  service  rendered  to  His  de- 
votees. 

Thus  the  Caste  system,  though  worked  by 
human  agency,  is  founded  upon  natural  laws. 
As  originally  created  in  the  Silver  Age,  its 
object  is  to  form  people  into  groups  accord- 
ing to  the  similarity  of  their  natural  casts  of 
mind,  according  to  their  natural  instincts  and 
dispositions,  with  the  view  of  uniting  them  by 
the  .bonds  of  their  common  as  well  as  mutual 
interests,  with  the  view  of  helping  them  to 
material,  moral  and  spiritual  elevation  by  com- 
pelling them  to  discharge  their  respective 
duties  according  to  the  injunctions  of  inspired 
codes  of  laws  furnished  by  illumined  Sages 
whose  very  pure,  unselfish,  spiritual  and  self- 
sacrificing  life  is  the  best  guarantee  of  the  wis- 
dom, efficacy  and  usefulness  of  their  advices 

117 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

and  teachings.  The  relation  of  interdepend- 
ence which  these  caste  laws  consolidate  is  in 
itself  one  of  the  grandest  achievements  of  the 
caste  system  for  the  good  of  the  human  family. 
It  is  the  most  practical  means  of  preserving 
unity  and  a  natural  preventive  of  the  disin- 
tegration of  the  whole  mass  of  humanity  into 
individual  units  than  which  no  greater  calamity 
can  happen  to  the  general  as  well  as  individual 
weal  of  human  beings.  Yet,  alas,  among  non- 
caste  races  this  is  happening,  especially  in  the 
Western  countries  of  the  world,  at  the  present 
time! 

Look  at  the  state  of  the  human  society  at 
this  moment,  particularly  that  portion  of  it 
which  is  governed  by  the  ideas  of  what  is  boast- 
fully called  "civilization" !  Look  at  the  ex- 
ternal results  of  the  internal  influence  of 
thfs~  civilization !  Material  comfort  and  pleas- 
ure has  become  the  very  ideal  of  life  for  its 
average  votary.  All,  almost  all  are  ever  rush- 
ing on  the  path  of  securing  the  means  for  that 
one  end.  And  in  that  mad  rush  they  are  jost- 
ling, hustling,  hating,  abusing,  cheating,  killing 
and  destroying  one  another  physically  and 

118 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

morally.  In  that  mad  rush  for  that  one  goal, 
in  that  selfish  fight  and  quarrel,  out  of  the  ex- 
haustion brought  on  by  the  efforts  of  that 
bustling  and  hustling,  they  have  no  time  or 
opportunity  or  inclination  to  think  of  anything 
which  has  no  immediate  concern  with  that 
utterly  material  aim  of  life.  They  have  no 
time  to  think  of  their  mind,  much  less  of  their 
soul,  which  most  of  them  have  abolished  as 
a  delusion  and  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  ma- 
terial success.  They  have  even  no  time  to 
look  up  into  the  blue  heavens  during  night  or 
during  day,  to  look  at  the  beauties  of  the  stars 
and  the  moon,  much  less  to  think  of  what  they 
are  and  if  they  have  any  relation  with  them. 
Material  interests  are  fast  taking  the  place  of 
natural  love  and  affection.  Husbands  and 
wives  are  fighting  with  each  other;  sons  and 
daughters  are  ignoring  and  disobeying  their 
parents ;  masters  and  servants  have  no  other 
regard  for  each  other  than  that  inspired  by 
personal  gain ;  they  are  always  trying  to  cheat 
instead  of  helping  each  other.  Members  of 
communities  are  divided  against  each  other 
and  only  seemingly  united  for  the  sake  of 

119 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

selfish  ends.  Society  exists  only  in  name. 
Envy,  malice,  greed,  selfishness,  conceit  having 
gained  predominance  in  all,  have  split  society 
into  units. 

This  chaotic  state  of  modern  human  "so- 
ciety" in  most  parts  of  the  world,  the  truth  of 
which  will  be  generally  acknowledged,  ought 
to  convince  all  thoughtful  people  as  to  the 
wisdom  and  vital  necessity  of  the  caste  system. 
Even  now  where  the  four-caste  system  still 
exists,  it  does  serve  to  keep  the  communities 
within  its  rule  as  one  compact  body 
to  a  great  extent,  through  the  influence 
of  its  laws  of  interdependence  and  mutual 
harmonious  relations.  Thanks  to  Caste, 
even  the  degenerating"  Hindoos  of  to-day 
have  not  yet  been  split  into  units.  This 
remnant  race,  a  race  which  has  still  retained 
some  of  the  instincts  of  the  original  human 
family  of  the  Silver  Age,  is  being  more 
and  more  divided  and  subdivided,  no  doubt, 
at  the  present  day.  But  these  divisions  and 
subdivisions  are  large  coherent  parts,  linked 
together  into  one  great  whole.  The  entire  race 
is  divided  into  four  castes ;  the  castes  are  divid- 
120 


THE  CASTE  SYSTEM. 

ed  into  sub-castes,  the  sub-castes  again  into 
communities,  the  communities  into  rural  so- 
cieties, the  rural  societies  into  large  patriarchal 
joint-families.  The  members  of  families  are 
ruled  by  the  patriarchs,  the  patriarchs  by  the 
headmen  of  caste  communities,  the  caste 
communities  by  the  spiritual  (Brahman) 
guides,  through  the  enforcement  of  the  salu- 
tary Scriptural  injunctions,  the  infringement 
of  which  is  punished,  in  minor  cases,  by  ex- 
piations involving  physical  hardships  and  spir- 
itual austerities  and  purifying  ceremonies,  and, 
in  serious  cases,  by  expulsion  from  caste, 
which,  in  India,  is  a  greater  disaster  than 
natural  or  material  calamities.  And  all  these 
rulers  and  ruled  are  related  to  one  another  by 
more  or  less  natural  love  and  affection  or  re- 
spect and  sense  of  duty  born  in  their  blood 
through  thousands  of  generations  of  heredi- 
tary habits  of  thought  and  life ;  all  are  inspired 
to  command  and  obey  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Veda  which  their  mind  absorbs  through  the 
performance  of  their  respective  spiritual,  social, 
physical  duties  as  enjoined  by  the  later  Script- 
ures—the Shastras,  which  are  modified  em- 
121 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

bodiments  of  the  revealed  laws  of  the  Basic 
Spirit  of  All  Life,  the  all-cementing  Spirit  of 
Nature — Love. 


SECTION  VIII. 

THE    FOUR    STAGES    OF    LIFE. 

SIMULTANEOUSLY  with  the  introduction  of  the 
Caste  System  in  the  Silver  Age  are  instituted 
the  Four  Stages  of  Life,  the  object  of  which 
is  to  help  the  lower  state  of  human  conscious- 
ness to  gradually  attain  to  the  highest  spiritual 
realization.  They  are  graduated  processes  of 
mental  and  physical  application  and  discipline 
by  the  practice  of  which  individuals  are  to 
recover  the  absolute  illumination,  being  and 
bliss  enjoyed  by  all  human  souls  in  the  Golden 
Age.  They  impart  a  scientfic  training  to  the 
human  mind  in  order  to  enable  it  to  subdue  its 
Rajasic  (active)  and  Tamasic  (darkening) 
attributes  by  developing  the  Sattwic  (illumi- 
nating) attribute  through  concentration  upon 
the  Basic  Principles  of  Life — the  Centre  and 
Essence  of  Absolute  Purity  and  Illumination. 
The  first  stage  is  called  Brahmacharjya  or 
Spiritual  Pupilage.  The  second  stage  is  called 
Grihastha  or  Householdership.  The  third 

123 


SREE  K-RISHNA. 

stage  is  called  Vanaprastha  or  Asceticism.  The 
fourth  stage  is  called  the  Bhikshu  or  Wander- 
ing Friarship.  The  first,  third  and  fourth 
stages  are  enjoined  for  the  three  twice-born 
castes  and  the  third  and  fourth  are  open  even 
to  a  Sudra  if  he  is  found  worthy  of  adopting 
them.  The  Brahman,  Kshatriya  and  Vaishya 
are  called  twice-born ;  the  first  birth  is  the 
physical  birth,  the  second  is  the  spiritual  birth 
through  the  investiture  of  the  holy  thread 
from  which  begins  the  performance  of  daily 
spiritual  duties  and  practices. 

The  first  stage  of  life  begins,  soon  after  this 
spiritual  initiation,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  when 
the  boy  goes  to  reside  with  the  Gooroo  (spir- 
itual guide)  for  studying  the  Veda  and  for 
undergoing  spiritual,  mental  and  physical  dis- 
cipline. The  Gooroo  is  an  illuminated  Brah- 
man sage  whose  love  and  affection  for  the 
pupils  in  his  charge  and  anxious  care  and 
efforts  for  the  unfoldment  of  their  souls  are 
not  equalled  by  those  of  even  their  parents. 
He  feeds,  clothes  and  lodges  them  in  his  own 
abode  free  of  any  charge  or  consideration 
whatever.  His  one  thought  and  concern  is 

124 


-  THE  FOUR  STAGES  OF  LIFE. 

to  help  them  to  realize  the  Truth,  to  be  freed 
from  the  bondage  of  matter  and  thus  enter  the 
Absolute  Realm  of  Eternal  Love  and  Happi- 
ness. 

While  every  student  has  to  perform  the  same 
regular  spiritual  rites  and  pratices  and  to  say 
the  prayers  daily  after  physical  purification, 
the  method  of  training  adopted  by  the  Gooroo 
for  developing  their  soul  is  not  the  same  in 
each  case.  To  some  he  explains  the  truths 
of  the  Veda  and  asks  them  to  meditate  on  their 
meanings.  Others,  who  show  natural  instincts 
of  devotion,  he  trains  into  practical  realiza- 
tion of  the  same  truths  without  teaching  them 
a  single  word  of  the  Veda. 

The  chief  method  of  a  Gooroo's  teaching 
is  to  draw  the  student's  mind  away  from 
worldly  attractions  and  turn  the  direction  of 
the  mind's  vision  inwards  into  the  soul.  De- 
votion is  the  principal  aim,  for  devotion  means 
concentration  and  when  that  concentration 
is  fixed  upon  the  contemplation  of  the  Essence 
of  things  which  pervades  them  all  and  yet 
is  unmixed  with  the  outer  substance  and  at- 
tributes of  their  manifested  forms,  the  mind 

125 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

absorbs  the  perfect  purity  of  that  Essence  and 
is  filled  with  the  serenity  and  the  inexpressible 
joy  born  of  absolute  freedom  from  the  in- 
fluence of  matter. 

If  the  student  obtains  this  practical  realiza- 
tion of  the  Essence  of  Existence,  he  remains 
for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  this  stage  of  spiritual 
pupilage.  But  he  is  no  more  a  pupil ;  he  be- 
comes a  teacher  of  pupils — a  Gooroo.  It  is 
this  practical  realization  that  invests  a  student 
of  wisdom  with  the  magnetic  power  of  awaken- 
ing that  realization  in  others. 

A  spiritual  student's  training  is  essentially 
based  upon  a  life  of  purest  mental  and  physical 
chastity;  the  student  is  not  allowed  by  the 
teacher  to  mix  or  talk  with  worldly  men  or  to 
discuss  temporal  subjects  among  themselves. 
When  the  practical  realization  of  the  Truth  is 
attained,  life's  one  object  is  attained.  If,  how- 
ever, after  staying  and  studying  with  the  Goo- 
roo for  twelve  years,  the  student  fails  to  have 
this  practical  grasp  of  the  soul  of  wisdom,  he 
leaves  the  Gooroo  and  with  his  permission 
returns  to  his  family,  takes  unto  himself  a 
good-tempered,  virtuous  and  spiritually-in- 

126 


THE  FOUR  STAGES  OF  LIFE. 

clined  wife  and  enters  into  the  life  of  a  house- 
holder. But  the  principal  object  of  this 
second  stage  of  life  is  the  same  as  in  the 
first — realization  of  the  Truth.  The  practice 
for  physical  and  mental  purity  is  continued, 
the  Veda  is  studied  daily,  diligently  and  de- 
votedly, and  the  meanings  of  its  truths  and 
principles  contemplated  with  calmness  and  con- 
centration, comparing  their  lessons  in  the  light 
of  the  experiences  of  worldly  life.  The  obliga- 
tions of  household  life  are  greater  than  those 
of  pupilage.  Life  must  be  sustained  on  simple 
and  sparing  meals ;  the  means  of  living  must 
be  honestly  earned,  the  hungry  or  needy  beggar 
must  be  satisfied  according  to  means  and  abil- 
ity; the  pleasures  and  comforts  of  household 
existence  must  be  enjoyed  moderately  and  with 
discrimination ;  parents,  wife,  members  of  the 
family,  poor  relatives  and  dependents  and  de- 
voted servants  must  be  supported,  loved  and 
made  happy.  All  legitimate  wishes  and  wants 
of  the  wife  must  be  satisfied,  she  must  be  cher- 
ished with  affection  and  respect  and  regarded 
as  the  presiding  deity  of  household  harmony. 
If  during  this  household  life  the  truth  is 

121 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

realized,  the  householder  remains  at  home  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  his  earthly  days ;  he  has  no  need 
to  go  into  the  third  stage  of  life,  for,  as  I  have 
said,  realization  of  the  Truth  is  the  end  and 
aim  of  life  in  all  its  stages.  If,  however,  this 
main  object  is  not  obtained,  the  householder, 
after  twenty-four  years  of  family  life,  must 
enter  the  third  stage,  that  of  the  ascetic.  He 
must  leave  his  home  with  his  wife  and  retire 
from  worldly  life  and  interests  and  live  in 
some  secluded  forest  place  near  his  home  and 
practise  austerities,  physical  and  mental,  in 
order  to  purge  the  mind  of  all  its  material 
inclinations  for  a  period  of  twelve  years.  If 
during  that  time  the  realization  is  obtained,  he 
remains  in  that  stage  for  the  rest  of  his  life, 
imparting  the  realized  knowledge  and  wisdom 
to  all  who  may  come  to  him. 

If,  however,  he  fails  in  his  search  for  it,  even 
in  this  ascetic  stage,  he  returns  to  his  home 
with  his  wife,  and  if  he  has  a  son  to  protect 
and  support  her,  he  leaves  his  home  and  family, 
with  the  permission  of  his  parents  and  his  wife, 
and  enters  into  the  fourth  stage,  that  of  the 
holy  wanderer,  to  tread  the  path  to  Freedom 

128 


THE  FOUR  STAGES  OF  LIFE. 

and  Truth  all  alone,  sundering  all  ties  of 
worldly  life  and  surrendering  himself — body, 
mind  and  soul — to  that  search.  He  must  not 
occupy  his  mind  with  any  other  but  that  one 
thought;  he  must  live  on  one  simple,  spare 
meal  a  day,  enough  to  sufficiently  satisfy  his 
hunger;  he  must  dress  himself  in  scant  saf- 
fron-colored clothes,  the  color  of  Love  and 
Wisdom.  He  must  ever  be  wandering,  never 
entering  a  human  home,  and  rest  under  trees ; 
but  must  not  sleep  under  one  tree  or  on  the 
same  spot  or  place  for  three  successive  nights, 
never  talk  with  people  on  any  other  subject 
than  that  of  his  search,  and  discuss  it  with 
humble  spirit  of  inquiry  with  illuminated 
sages  he  comes  across  on  his  journeyings. 

This  all-absorbing  meditation  does  help  to 
awaken  in  him  at  last  the  light  of  the  Truth, 
and  blessed  with  that  light  he  is  filled  with  joy 
and  feels  himself  the  happiest  mortal,  in  touch 
and  tune  with  the  purest  spirit  of  the  Universe, 
the  Infinity  which  is  the  parent  of  the  Finite. 
With  the  first  flush  of  this  realization  he 
changes  the  color  of  his  clothes  from  saffron 
to  white,  the  color  of  Illumination  (Sattwa), 

129 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

and  as  he  wanders  still,  in  the  ecstasy  of  the 
bliss  of  Truth  within  his  soul,  gradually  the 
objective  phenomena  around  him  seem  unsub- 
stantial and  finally  grow  dim  and  shadowy, 
while  the  realized  spirit  in  which  his  mind  lives 
immersed,  he  perceives  to  be  the  only  substance 
of  those  shadows.  Then,  as  he  roams  along, 
laughing  and  sporting  like  a  little  boy  in  the 
fulness  of  the  glee  within,  he  becomes  in  time 
almost  unconscious  of  anything  outside  of  his 
soul.  His  very  sight  is  a  blessing  to  all  be- 
holders, a  blessing  which  fills  them  tempo- 
rarily with  the  delight  of  his  intoxication.  He 
has  no  count  of  time  or  notion  of  the  phases 
of  time — whether  it  is  morning,  noon  or  night. 
He  lives  henceforth  in  Infinity  and  views  all 
Nature  as  dwelling  within  him  and  anon  views 
himself  as  a  wavelet  in  the  infinite  ocean  of  its 
Essence.  He  does  not  feel  any  hunger,  for 
with  the  satisfaction  of  his  spiritual  hunger 
all  hunger  has  been  satisfied  forever.  He  is 
the  embodiment  of  ecstasy,  uncovered  ecstasy, 
and  even  his  physical  cover,  the  white  cloth, 
has  fallen  from  his  body.  He  stands  naked 
as  naked  Nature's  most  natural  man.  He  is 

130 


THE  FOUR  STAGES  OF  LIFE. 

clothed  with  the  illumination  of  his  soul,  like 
the  Golden  Age  man. 


131 


SECTION  IX. 

THE  COPPER  AGE. 

THE  Divine  Cycle  of  time  can  be  likened  to 
a  fruit.     Like  the  ripening  and  rottening  of 
a  fruit,  the  Divine  Cycle  develops  and  degener- 
ates into  rottenness.     The  Golden  Age  is  its 
ripening  stage.     At  the  end  of  that  age,  it  is 
fully   ripe.     The   Silver   Age   is   its   overripe 
stage.    The  Copper  Age  marks  the  stage  of  its 
rottenness  and  the  Iron  Age  is  its  fully  rotten 
stage.     At  the  end  of  the  Iron  Age,  it  is  re- 
duced to  its  seed  out  of  which  springs  the 
sprout  of  the  Golden  Age.     And  during  the 
junction  period  of  the  Golden  Age,  covering 
144,000  human  years,  the  sprout  grows  into  a 
flowering  tree  which  bears  fruit  with  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Golden  Age  proper. 

The  length  of  the  Copper  Age  is  2,000 
divine  years,  equal  to  720,000  human  years, 
while  its  Twilight  periods  are  72,000  years 
each.  Men  in  this  age  are  seven  cubits  or  ten 
and  a  half  feet  high.  Virtue  lives  in  it  in  two 


THE    COPPER    AGE. 

quarters,  the  other  two  being  filled  by  vice. 
Vitality  is  rooted  in  the  blood;  men  live  as 
long  as  there  is  blood  in  their  body.  Gold  and 
silver  having  become  dearer  the  metal  gener- 
ally used  in  making  household  utensils  is  cop- 
per which  is  found  abundantly,  whence  the  age 
derives  its  name.  The  intensity  of  accelerated 
Raja  within  Nature  helps  the  assertion  of 
Tama  in  all  her  manifest  phases,  although 
Sattwa  still  has  some  influence.  The  trees 
become  less  in  height,  less  fruitful  and  the 
fruits  less  sweet ;  crops  less  abundant  despite 
the  best  efforts  of  cultivation.  Cows  give  less 
milk  than  in  the  Silver  Age,  while  wild  animals 
become  more  ferocious.  Most  animals  can 
speak  in  the  Silver  Age,  but  now  only  some 
of  them,  the  higher  ones,  are  blessed  with  that 
power  during  the  major  portion  of  it. 

People  in  the  Copper  Age  become  more  and 
more  outward-looking  generally,  especially  the 
Sudras,  some  of  whom  having  become  filled 
with  dense  Tama,  revolt  against  all  laws  and 
discipline  and  turn  into  thieves  and  robbers. 
These  latter  are  expelled  from  their  caste  and 
banished  out  of  civilized  centres  of  population 

133 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  world  over  by  the  kings.  They  are  called 
by  the  common  name  of  robbers  and  specific 
names  of  Yavans  and  Mlechhas  which  means 
men  who  are  wild,  barbarous  and  unclean 
by  nature  and  habits.  These  Yavans  and 
Mlechhas  come  into  existence  towards  the  end 
of  the  Silver  Age  and  rapidly  increase  in  num- 
ber during  the  Dwapar  (Copper  Age),  towards 
the  end  of  which  they  form  the  majority  of  the 
world's  population  and  are  known  by  different 
names  according  to  the  localities  of  their  habi- 
tation, different  shades  of  their  dark  attributes, 
and  the  callings  they  pursue :  Yavan,  Kirat 
(hunters),  Gandhar,  Cheen  (Chinese),  Shabar, 
Barbar  (barbarian),  Shak,  Tungar,  Kanka, 
Palhab,  Ramat  and  Kambhoj.  The  kings  in 
the  Copper  Age  have  a  hard  time  to  protect 
their  subjects  and  their  territories  from  the 
depredations  of  these  wild  characters  and  rob- 
bers. The  king's  first  duty  is  to  preserve 
peace  in  his  kingdom  so  that  his  subjects  may 
not  be  disturbed  in  the  performance  of  their 
religious  duties,  may  apply  themselves  to  the 
study  of  the  Veda  and  the  contemplation  of  the 
Supreme  Deity  and  tread  the  path  of  virtue 
without  annoyance. 

134 


THE    COPPER   AGE. 

The  king's  chief  duty  being  to  insure  the 
material  welfare  of  his  subjects  with  the  sole 
view  of  helping  their  spiritual  welfare,  the 
punishment  for  the  infringement  of  caste  and 
religious  rules  is  made  severe  and  swiftly  ad- 
ministered. At  the  same  time  the  spirit  of  the 
times  is  taken  into  consideration  and  many 
rigid  rules  are  relaxed  and  minor  faults  are 
pardoned.  The  four  castes  are  subdivided  into 
sub-castes  according  to  the  different  callings 
that  the  Vaishyas  and  Sudras  show  preference 
in  their  inclinations  to  follow.  Those  who  take 
to  agriculture  are  classed  as  cultivators,  those 
who  rear  cattle  and  sell  milk  and  butter  are 
called  milkmen,  while  those  who  take  to  trade 
and  commerce  are  called  traders  and  merchants 
and  so  on.  All  these  form  into  different  sub- 
castes  under  the  general  caste  of  Vaishya. 
Similarly  the  Sudras  are  subdivided  according 
to  their  respective  callings;  viz.,  blacksmiths, 
potters,  carpenters,  masons,  etc.,  all  under  the 
general  caste  of  Sudra.  The  chief  object  of 
these  sub-castes  is  to  save  human  society  from 
disintegration  as  much  as  possible,  to  preserve 
the  masses  of  men  in  as  large  coherent  sec- 

135 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

tions  as  practicable  linked  to  one  another 
through  spiritual,  moral  and  material  relations. 
Another,  and  almost  equally  important,  ob- 
ject of  the  caste  and  sub-caste  systems  in  the 
Copper  Age  is  to  conserve  the  heredity  of 
their  different  intellectualities,  talents,  healthy 
characteristics,  and  instincts.  This  becomes  all 
the  more  necessary  owing  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  in  the  Dwapar  Yuga  that  husbands  and 
wives  begin  to  have  carnal  relations.  During 
the  Golden  Age  and  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Silver  Age  all  men  and  women  are,  what 
Christians  call,  virgin-born.  The  fuss  that  is 
made  about  this  immaculate  conception  suc- 
ceeds only  to  excite  a  smile  of  pity  in  the 
Shastra-enlightened  Hindoo — a  smile  of  pity 
for  the  ignorance  of  the  facts  in  the  past  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  of  which  they  seem 
to  know  so  little  and  care  less  to  know  more. 
This  fact  about  the  Golden  and  Silver  Ages, 
this  generally  prevailing  immaculate  child- 
conception,  ought  to  open  their  eyes.  If  they 
require  any  authority  for  this  statement,  I 
refer  them  to  the  stuly  of  the  Shanti  Parva  of 
the  Mahabharata. 

136 


THE    COPPER    AGE, 

The  Yoga-power  of  the  Golden  Age  men 
draw  disembodied  souls  from  the  Bhuba 
sphere  and  spiritual  souls  from  higher  spheres 
to  enter  into  a  woman's  womb  and  be  born  on 
the  earth  plane.  The  will-force  of  these  men 
supplies  these  incoming  souls  with  the  mate- 
rial of  a  physical  body.  In  the  Silver  Age  the 
higher  illuminated  Brahmans  and  Saints  can 
bring  about  conception  in  the  same  way,  while 
others  bring  it  about  by  making  the  women  eat 
magnetized  "charoo,"  which  not  only  draws 
these  spirits  to  the  womb,  but  supplies  the 
material  for  the  physical  body.  In  the  Copper 
Age,  however,  the  decrease  of  spirituality  takes 
away  the  power,  and  so  the  material  of  the 
physical  body  has  to  be  supplied  by  the  physi- 
cal vigor  of  the  father  and  the  blood  of  the 
mother  to  enable  a  disembodied  spirit  to  enter 
the  womb  and  grow  into  a  child. 

This  degenerated  process  of  procreation 
coming  into  vogue  in  the  Copper  Age  renders 
it  necessary  to  fuse  higher  magnetism  into 
the  lower  castes,  as  well  as  to  preserve  the 
magnetism  of  each  caste  from  deterioration. 
The  means  adopted  for  securing  these  ends  is 
137 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

to  allow  the  two  higher  castes  men  to  marry 
girls  of  the  lower  castes,  and  towards  the  lat- 
ter end  of  the  Copper  Age  even  Vaishyas  are 
permitted  to  marry  Sudra  girls.  The  lower 
caste  men,  however,  are  never  allowed  to 
marry  higher  caste  women,  as  it  degenerates 
the  breed,  the  seed  being  a  far  more  potent 
factor  in  producing  excellence  of  growth  than 
the  soil.  The  offsprings  of  these  intermar- 
riages form  into  castes  distinct  from  those  of 
their  fathers  and  mothers,  lower  than  their 
father's  and  higher  than  their  mother's. 

In  order  to  preserve  the  magnetism  and  the 
hereditary  talent  and  instincts  from  deteriorat- 
ing, the  castes  are  divided  into  sub-castes  ac- 
cording to  their  general  proclivities  and  pro- 
fessions of  livelihood.  Each  sub-caste  must 
marry  within  its  own  circle,  and  must  eat  food 
cooked  by  the  hands  of  its  own  members. 
Heredity  is  now  being  believed  in  by  the  mate- 
realistic  people  of  the  modern  world,  and  when 
that  belief  in  heredity  will  have  grown  stronger 
in  their  minds,  they  will  then  take  practical 
measures  to  preserve  the  good  qualities  of 
heredity  from  being  spoilt  by  coming  in  con- 

138 


THE    COPPER   AGE. 

tact  with  the  bad  magnetism  of  its  lower  traits. 

This  human  magnetism  is  a  subject  which  is 
worthy  of  the  study  of  modern  scientists.  If 
they  can  find  out  what  it  is,  ascertain  its  prop- 
erties, power  for  good  and  evil,  and  how  good 
magnetism  can  be  conserved  and  transmitted 
and  how  bad  magnetism  can  be  purified,  they 
will  do  humanity  greater  good  than  they  have 
done  by  the  discovery  of  steam  and  electricity, 
which,  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  the  high- 
est good,  ought  to  be  considered  as  very 
doubtful  boons.  Magnetism  is  not  useful  mag- 
netism if  it  is  purely  physical.  It  is  not  worth 
preserving,  it  is  injurious,  and  its  contact 
ought  to  be  avoided. 

It  is  spiritual  magnetism  which  is  worth 
preserving.  It  is  spirituality  which  is  the 
medium  which  transmits  good  heredity  from 
parent  to  progeny.  The  mind  is  the  storehouse 
and  battery  of  all  human  magnetism.  The 
vibrations  of  the  mind  pervade  every  atom 
of  the  body  and  the  mind's  vibrations  are 
generated  by  its  principal  and  most  powerful 
thoughts  and  sentiments.  These  vibrations 
are  the  essence  of  these  thoughts  and  senti- 

139 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

ments,  and  magnetism  is  that  subtle  essence 
impregnated  with  the  potencies  of  the  mind 
mixed  with  the  subtle  forces  of  the  physical 
body. 

Marrying,  cooking  and  eating  within  the 
caste  helps  to  conserve  in  the  individual  mem- 
bers thereof  the  spiritual  and  mental  mag- 
netism, generated  by  the  performances  of  the 
religious  duties  and  ceremonies  and  spiritual 
incantations  which  form  the  daily  routine  of 
household  life  enjoined  by  the  Scriptures. 

Thus  wisdom,  talent,  traits,  instincts  are  all 
ingrained  in  and  transmitted  through  the  blood 
from  generation  to  generation  of  each  caste. 
The  caste  is  like  a  university,  each  home  a 
school,  and  the  instincts  and  talents,  brought 
into  being  with  the  birth  of  each  member,  are 
the  implanted  principles  of  the  knowledge  of 
each  profession  of  which  it  is  the  caste.  A 
carpenter's  caste  is  a  guild  for  carpentry,  a 
carpenter's  home  is  a  technical  school  for  car- 
pentry where  the  natural  talent  and  love  for  the 
art  are  partly  imbibed  by  the  instincts  of  hered- 
ity and  partly  by  observation  which  is  the  best 
system  of  training. 

140 


THE    COPPER   AGE. 

With  these  tendencies  of  material  arts  are 
born  in  the  blood  of  the  child  the  germs  of  the 
moral  and  spiritual  culture  of  the  parents. 
These  germs  shoot  forth  into  healthy  growth 
under  the  fostering  care  of  the  child's  guard- 
ians, aided  by  the  religious,  social  and  domestic 
duties  the  growing  child  has  to  perform  daily. 
The  carpenter  is  as  much  a  useful  member  of 
the  four-caste  society  as  the  Brahman.  The 
householder  Brahman  can  no  more  do  without 
a  carpenter  than  a  carpenter  can  do  without  a 
Brahman.  But  the  value  of  the  Brahman's  help 
to  the  carpenter  being  more  important  to  the 
development  of  his  soul,  which  is  the  true  aim 
and  goal  of  earthly  life,  the  obligations  of  the 
other  castes  to  the  Brahman  are  greater  and 
deeper  than  those  of  the  Brahman  to  the 
Sudra.  The  question  may  now  be  asked,  has 
that  carpenter  no  chance  of  becoming  the  equal 
of  the  Brahman  through  spiritual  culture  ?  Yes 
and  no.  Yes,  because  Brahmanhood  is  nobody's 
monopoly.  Brahmanhood  is  but  a  state  of  the 
human  mind — the  ensouled  state  of  the  human 
mind,  and  anybody  who  develops  this  state  of 
mind,  even  though  he  be  encased  within  a 

141 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Pariah's  flesh,  lays  legitimate  claim  to  Brah- 
manhood.  Only  he  must  make  that  ensouled 
mental  state  perfect,  only  he  must  enter  the 
fold  of  Brahmanhood  through  the  door  of 
Nature,  through  the  ingress  of  Rebirth.  The 
maturity  of  a  material  or  mental  condition  is 
best  known  to  Nature.  A  mass  of  animal  flesh, 
lying  on  the  surface  of  Mother  Earth,  under- 
goes all  the  processes  of  disintegration  and 
putrefaction,  and  when  that  disintegration  is 
complete,  Earth  assimilates  and  absorbs  it 
again ;  it  becomes  a  part  of  her  body,  it  be- 
comes earth  itself.  What  is  true  of  material 
plane  of  Nature  is  true  as  well  of  her  mental 
and  spiritual  planes.  When  a  carpenter  has 
developed  full  Brahman  consciousness,  Na- 
ture opens  to  him  wide  the  portals  of  the 
spiritual  caste  which  had  looked  down  upon 
him  in  his  carpenter  birth.  Even  in  his  car- 
penter birth,  he  does  not  go  unrewarded.  The 
case  of  the  carpenter  Rishi,  called  Suta,  is  a 
luminous  instance  in  point.  His  spiritual  cul- 
ture was  so  great  that  the  highest  illuminated 
sages  (Rishis)  learned  from  him  the  lessons 
of  the  Puranas  which  he  preached  to  them, 
142 


THE    COPPER    AGE. 

sitting  on  a  raised  platform  with  their  rev- 
erential permission.  He  was  considered  a 
knower  of  Brahm  and  so  enjoyed  the  respect 
paid  to  the  highest  spiritual  beings.  A  Sudra 
may  not  become  a  Brahman,  but  may  become 
through  practical  spiritual  culture  a  higher 
being  than  a  Brahman  even  in  his  Sudra  birth, 
and  be  born  into  a  highly  spiritual  Brahman 
family,  by  sheer  dint  of  merit,  the  merit  of  de- 
veloping spiritual  consciousness — in  the  next 
birth.  Similarly  a  Brahman,  born  in  the  high- 
est family  of  his  clan,  will,  by  developing  Pa- 
riah qualities,  be  outclassed  in  his  Brahman 
birth  and  .enter  through  the  door  of  Nature 
into  a  Pariah  family  in  a  subsequent  birth. 

The  above  facts  and  truths  are  known  to  a 
child  even  of  every  caste.  Even  a  child  knows, 
either  in  the  Copper  Age  or  to-day  among  the 
four-caste  people,  that  a  caste-birth  is  depend- 
ent upon  Karma  (actions).  A  Sudra,  there- 
fore, takes  the  very  fact  of  his  birth  as  suffi- 
cient reason  for  his  being  placed  in  the  low- 
est caste.  He  is  reconciled  to  his  fate,  a  fate 
big  with  the  potentialities  of  his  actions  in 
previous  existences.  And  the  little  gloom  of 

143 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

sadness  that  his  lowly  station  of  life  casts  upon 
his  mind  is  illumined  now  and  again  by  the 
silver  lining  of  the  consolation  that  it  is  in  his 
power,  if  he  so  wills  it,  to  be  a  high  Brah- 
man in  the  next  incarnation,  if  he  succeeds  in 
developing  his  higher  soul-consciousness. 

The  Veda  in  the  Copper  Age  has  for  the 
first  time  to  be  studied  and  its  truths  practised 
in  two  parts — the  philosophical  and  the  cere- 
monial parts.  Men  generally  are  degenerated 
so  much  in  this  age  that  they  can  no  longer 
grasp  the  truths  of  the  Upanishads  without 
first  purifying  their  body  and  through  the  puri- 
fied body  the  mind.  The  Vedas  are  divided 
into  Upanishads  (Eternal  Spiritual  Truths) 
and  the  Mantras  (incantations,  hymns  and 
ceremonies,  the  practice  of  which  cleanses  the 
impurities  of  the  mind  and  body).  In  the 
Dwapar  Yuga,  therefore,  the  performance  of 
the  ceremonials  of  the  Veda  is  much  in  vogue. 
When  the  body  and  mind  are  purified,  they  are 
made  fit  for  grasping  the  meanings  of  the 
higher  philosophy  of  life  and  become  recep- 
tive to  the  influences  of  the  subtlest  spiritual 
vibrations. 

144 


SECTION   X. 

THE  IRON  AGE. 

BUT  even  these  attempts  and  safeguards  for 
keeping  up  the  higher  individuality  of  the 
human  race  fail  to  retard  the  course  of  the  de- 
generation which  Nature  herself  undergoes  in 
the  process  of  time.  The  fruit  of  Divine  Cycle, 
spoken  of  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  Section, 
reaches  an  advanced  stage  of  rottenness  which 
marks  the  commencement  of  the  Twilight  Pe- 
riod of  the  Kali,  called  also  Tamas  or  the  Dark 
Age.  The  characteristics  of  Kali  are  symp- 
toms of  Nature  filled  with  denser  gloom  than 
heretofore. 

The  usual  Kali,  the  last  section  of  every 
Divine  Cycle,  is  much  more  dense  with  Tama 
(darkness)  than  the  one  in  which  we  are  living 
now.  The  reason  is  that  at  the  junction  of  the 
last  Dwapar  and  the  present  Kali,  the  fullest 
incarnation  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  Sri  Krishna 
himself,  came  on  earth  to  dwell  among  men 
for  a  period  of  a  hundred  years.  This  Avatar 
and  source  of  all  Avatars,  this  central  Form- 

145 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Point  of  All-Pervading  Brahm,  this  Embodi- 
ment of  Para-Brahm,  is  gracious  enough  to 
come  and  dwell  among  men  on  earth  only  once 
in  71  Divine  cycles.  We,  the  degenerated 
mortals  of  this  Dark  Age,  are  more  fortunate 
than  even  humanity  of  many  a  Golden  or  Silver 
Age.  The  Supreme  Lord  sanctifies  the  soil  of 
the  earth-plane  of  every  universe  with  the  all- 
purifying  touch  of  His  Lotus-Feet  by  turns, 
The  countless  universes  that  spring  out  of 
Him  and  return  in  germ-form  again  into 
Him  have  the  grace  of  His  personal  touch  and 
supervision  at  appointed  times.  When  Krish- 
na comes  to  live  in  any  of  the  universes,  Na- 
ture therein  is  turned  inside  out,  so  that  the 
inmost  essence  of  it  may  flow  over  its  surface 
and  wash  off  all  the  causes  of  pollution.  It 
has  been  recorded  by  the  contemporary  sages 
of  Krishna-Leela,  the  all-knowing  sages  who 
came  down  to  earth  from  higher  planes  to 
act  as  scribes  of  the  Lord's  deeds,  that  by  the 
coming  of  Krishna  not  only  the  36,000  years, 
forming  the  junction  period  of  Kali,  was  de- 
stroyed, but  also  almost  half  of  the  age  of 
Kali  proper,  while  the  Lord's  Rash-Dance 
146 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

with  the  Gopis  absorbed  a  whole  Kalpa  cov- 
ering 36,000  Divine  cycles  out  of  the  age  of 
Brahma. 

The  age  of  Brahma  is  the  age  of  the  uni- 
verse, that  is  to  say,  the  age  of  Brahma  is 
equal  to  the  duration  of  creation.  Brahma 
lives  for  100  Brahmic  years  and  one  Brahmic 
year  is  made  up  of  360  Brahmic  days.  One 
day  of  Brahma  is  equal  to  one  Kalpa,  so  is  his 
night.  A  Kalpa  is  equal  to  12,000,000  divine 
years.  One  night  of  Brahma  covers  the  same 
period  of  time  so  that  one  day  and  one  night 
of  Brahma  covers  24,000,000  divine  years. 
Multiplying  these  figures  by  360  we  get  8,640,- 
000,000  divine  years,  which  is  the  span  of  one 
year  of  Brahma.  Multiplying  these  figures  by 
loo  we  get  the  span  of  Brahma's  age,  864,- 
000,000,000  divine  years,  which  being  multi- 
plied by  360  we  get  311,040,000,000,000  human 
(lunar)  years,  the  age  of  Brahma,  the  dura- 
tion of  creation. 

Thus  the  night  of  the  Rash-Dance  not  only 
absorbed  one  Kalpa  equal  to  4,320,000,000 
lunar  years  out  of  the  duration  of  creation,  but 
also  36,000  years  which  form  the  junction  of 

147 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Dwapar  and  Kali,  as  also  about  half  the  span 
of  the  Kali  proper.  About  this  last  there  is 
no  authoritative  statement  in  the  Shastras,  but 
it  has  been  stated  therein  that  when  Krishna 
left  the  earth  and  went  up  to  His  Abode,  the 
forces  of  "advanced  Kali"  overtook  humanity. 
Now,  according  to  the  Hindoo  almanacs,  about 
5,000  years  only  have  passed  since  Krishna's 
departure,  which  would  mean  that  it  is  now  but 
the  beginning  of  Kali  proper,  the  span  of 
which  is  360,000  years.  But  the  signs  and 
symptoms  of  the  times  already  visible  are  un- 
mistakably of  the  middle  Kali,  detailed  de- 
scriptive features  of  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  Mahabharata  as  also  in  all  the  Puranas. 
This  being  so,  it  is  not  a  wrong  supposition 
that  we  are  already  in  the  middle  Kali  and 
that  Krishna-Leela  has  also  taken  away  half  the 
age  of  Kali  proper. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  that  the  Kali  has  to  pass 
through  the  conventional  figures  of  its  dura- 
tion given  in  the  Shastras.  What  is  true  of 
individual  humanity  is  true  also  of  the  whole 
mass  of  humanity  which  represents  Kali.  Kali 
is  nothing  else  but  the  forms  of  Nature's 

148 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

changes  of  the  latter  end  of  a  Divine  cycle. 
We,  men  and  beasts  and  trees  and  grass,  pro- 
ductions of  Nature,  represent  the  phases  and 
features  of  Kali.  Dense  Tama  working  with- 
in Nature  brings  out  the  characteristics  of 
this  dark  age  to  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Man 
being  the  most  highly  organized  product  and 
the  most  powerful  medium  of  her  attributes, 
the  thoughts  and  actions  of  men  are  most  af- 
fected by  it.  The  dark  thoughts  and  actions, 
called  sin  in  common  parlance  of  humanity, 
form  the  sins  of  Kali  which  represents  the 
spirit  of  human  conduct  and  characteristics 
in  the  Dark  Age.  We  see  that  people,  who  are 
naturally  healthy  and  robust,  shorten  their 
longevity  by  over-indulging  in  vice.  Thus  a 
life  of  vice  or  sin,  that  is,  life  lived  in  violation 
of  Nature's  laws,  begets  diseases  of  the  body 
which  bring  about  early  destruction.  A  man 
for  instance,  who,  according  to  his  natural  state 
of  health,  ought  to  live  for  one  hundred  years, 
is  often  found  to  die  at  the  age  of  thirty,  a 
victim  of  dissipated  life.  This  rule  applies  to 
Kali.  All  our  accumulated  sins  form  Kali's 
sins.  And  these  accumulated  sins  are  beget- 
149 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

ting  diseases  in  the  body  and  mind  of  human- 
ity from  wEich  Kali  must  die  an  early  death. 

This  Kali,  therefore,  with  its  rapidly  increas- 
ing accumulation  of  sin,  may  come  to  an  end 
in  less  than  10,000  years,  its  conventional 
period  of  existence,  360,000  years,  being  con- 
densed into  that  short  space  of  time.  Judging 
from  the  signs  of  an  advanced  state  of  rotten- 
ness, already  developed,  it  would  seem  as  if 
the  worst  features  which  hasten  its  end  may 
manifest  themselves  in  less  than  a  few  hun- 
dred years.  But,  like  wheels  within  wheels, 
the  Satya,  Treta  and  Dwapar  cycles  have  their 
sway  through  its  duration  by  turns.  By  this 
I  mean  that  during  the  course  of  Kali  (Iron 
Age)  features  and  characteristics  of  the 
Golden,  Silver  and  Copper  Ages  manifest 
themselves  by  turns  all  through  it.  Indeed,  the 
spirit  and  attributes  of  these  four  cycles  weigh 
the  moral  and  physical  atmosphere  of  each 
day  and  night.  Supposing  the  average  day 
begin  at  6  A.  M.,  the  influence  and  the  attri- 
butes of  the  Golden  Age  prevail  from  6  A.  M. 
to  3.36  P.  M.  ;  those  of  the  Silver  Age  prevail 
from  3.36  p.  M.  to  10.48  p.  M.  ;  those  of  the 
150 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

Copper  Age  from  10.48  p.  M.  to  3.36  A.  M., 
and  those  of  the  Iron  Age  from  3.36  A.  M.  to 
6  A.  M.  Illumination  and  comparative  calm- 
ness dwell  within  and  without  us  from  morning 
up  to  high  noon  owing  to  the  predominance  of 
Sattwa,  the  predominant  attribute  of  the 
Golden  Age.  From  noon  activity  (Raja)  as- 
serts itself,  and  by  about  3  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon it  gains  full  force  when  light  (inside  and 
out  of  us)  is  on  the  decline  and  calmness  is 
disturbed,  introducing  the  influence  of  the  Sil- 
ver Age,  which  lasts  until  about  n  at  night, 
when  Tama  (Darkness)  begins  its  reign  and, 
combined  with  Raja,  holds  the  rule  of  the 
Copper  Age.  The  signs  of  Tama  are  lazi- 
ness, inaction,  sleep,  etc.  We  begin  to  experi- 
ence these  from  n  o'clock  at  night  and  until 
three  in  the  morning  slumber  and  gloom  en- 
velop us  and  Nature.  But  sleep  and  darkness 
are  deepest  from  three  to  five  in  the  morning. 
These  hours  are  ruled  by  Kali,  the  Dark  Age. 

Thus  cycles  revolve  within  cycles  as  they 
revolve  even  within  the  smallest  cycle,  called 
Day.     Throughout  the  Iron  Age,  the  condi- 
tions of  the  first  three  cycles  prevail  one  after 
151 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  other,  and  when  this  influence  of  the 
Copper  Age  conditions  in  the  Kali  Age  spends 
itself,  conditions  of  darker  Kali  prevail  for  a 
time:  Then  again  signs  are  visible  of  Golden 
Age  influence  and  after  a  time  degenerate  into 
Silver  Age  phases,  then  into  Copper  Age 
mixed  light,  then  again  into  the  deep  gloom  of 
Kali  within  Kali,  and  so  on.  As  Kali  advances 
more  and  more  the  successive,  rotatory  influ- 
ences of  the  other  three  cycles  become  feebler 
and  feebler,  and  at  last  under  the  deepest 
gloom  of  Kali  gaining  fullest  power,  their  in- 
fluences are  kept  down  absolutely.  Here  be- 
gins the  end  of  the  Kali  period.  Soon  after 
the  signs  of  the  coming  Golden  Age  are  visible. 
These  ever  recurring  conditions  of  the  Golden 
and  Silver  Ages,  though  feeble  in  their  influ- 
ence, counteract  the  destructive  influences  of 
vice  and  sin  and  thus  help  to  save  the  life  of 
Kali  from  coming  to  an  end  all  too  soon. 

The  Kali  Yuga  is  called  the  Iron  Age,  be- 
cause gold,  silver  and  copper  becoming  scarcer, 
people  use  all  sorts  of  mixed  metals,  but 
chiefly  iron,  in  making  household  utensils,  iron 
being  found  in  great  abundance.  The  average 

152 


THE  IRON  AGE 

stature  of  mankind  is  three  and  a  half  cubits 
or  5  feet  9  inches.  Virtue  is  reduced  to  one- 
quarter,  the  other  three-quarters  being  made 
up  by  vice.  With  the  decrease  of  spirituality 
in  every  succeeding  age,  the  root  of  vitality  has 
been  transferred  from  marrow  to  bone,  from 
bone  to  blood.  Now,  in  the  Kali  that  root  of 
life  is  destroyed.  Life  in  this  age  is  generally 
sustained  by  food  alone.  The  effect  of  con- 
stant concentration  upon  changeful,  external 
objects  rebounds  upon  the  body,  causing  loss 
of  tissue  greater  than  that  in  the  former  ages, 
when  men  still  have  their  minds  turned  in- 
wards, between  whiles,  to  have  a  ,dip  in  the 
source  of  All-Life — the  soul. 

The  Vedas  in  the  Iron  Age  are  no  more 
understandable  to  the  people  in  their  original 
sound-embodiments  except  to  a  small  portion 
of  spiritual  Brahmans.  They  are  therefore 
presented  to  the  people  in  general  in  the  form 
of  Shastras  and  Puranas.  These  embody  the 
Vedic  truths,  principles  and  ideas  in  easy  con- 
structions and  simple  language,  illustrated  by 
examples  and  stories  drawn  from  facts  in  life 
of  the  past  ages.  The  Shastras  are,  therefore, 

153 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

nothing  but  the  Vedas,  simplified,  explained 
and  illustrated,  with  the  object  of  enabling  the 
deteriorated  intellect  of  the  Iron  Age  man  to 
grasp  the  light  and  the  spirit  of  the  Store- 
house of  Revealed  Wisdom.  The  ceremonial 
parts  of  the  Vedas  are  likewise  modified  and 
rendered  easier  for  practice  in  the  form  of 
Smritis  (forms  of  spiritual  duties  and  sacri- 
fices) the  daily  performance  of  which  is  en- 
joined upon  the  four-caste  people. 

Yet  for  all  that,  despite  all  these  strenuous 
efforts  of  the  small  spiritual  portion  of  the 
people  to  save  the  souls  of  their  brethren  from 
succumbing  to  the  dark  forces  of  the  age  and 
the  allurements  of  a  material  life  of  undisci- 
plined liberty  and  license,  human  society  falls 
into  a  mental  and  material  state  of  chaos,  typi- 
cal of  the  stage  of  complete  rottenness  of  a 
fruit.  As  many  grains  of  wheat  when  ground 
in  a  mill  look  like  one  substance,  called  flour, 
which  means  so  many  separate  grains  of  wheat 
have  been  divided  into  such  minute  parts  that 
they  appear  as  one  substance;  so,  in  this  most 
advanced  stage  of  decomposition  of  human  so- 
ciety, its  various  and  separate  composing  parts 

154 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

and  phases — religious,  racial  and  material — 
will  be  divided  into  one  whole-looking  mass 
of  separate  minute  units.  People's  minds,  at 
this  latter  end  of  the  age,  will  be  so  far  re- 
moved from  the  idea  and  notion  of  God  and 
the  soul  that  the  Vedas,  the  Bible  and  all 
other  religious  books  and  philosophies  that  are 
now  extant  will  disappear,  and  even  the  fact 
that  they  had  at  any  time  existed  will  be  com- 
pletely forgotten.  Churches  and  temples, 
mosques  and  synagogues  will  no  more  be  seen 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  humanity  will  live  for 
life  itself — the  grossest  material  life.  Each 
individual  will  differ  from  the  other  on  all 
imaginable  points  of  view  on  all  subjects. 
Every  man  and  woman  will  be  his  or  her  own 
God  or  ideal.  There  will  be  no  sympathy  be- 
tween them,  each  one  asserting  his  or  her  in- 
dependence over  all  of  his  or  her  fellow  crea- 
tures. They  will  think,  act,  move,  eat,  sleep  as 
their  own  wild,  wilful  dispositions  will  prompt 
them,  causing  quarrels  and  fighting  between 
one  another.  Selfishness  and  aggression  will 
be  the  keynote  of  their  character. 

The  number  of  Mlechhas  and  Yavans  and 

155 


SREE  KRISHNA, 

outcasted  people  increases  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  number  of  the  four-caste  people  who 
may  now  be  called  the  Root  Race  of  the  earth. 
In  the  process  of  time  this  Root  Race  of  people 
will  cling-  round  the  centre  of  the  earth  to 
save  their  spiritual  instincts,  pure  ways  of 
living,  customs  and  habits  from  being  con- 
taminated by  association  with  the  strayed  por- 
tion of  humanity  who  now  form  the  greatest- 
majority.  As,  when  in  the  throes  of  death, 
through  disease,  the  only  visible  action  of  life 
is  centered  in  the  heart,  while  all  other  parts 
are  numb  and  comparatively  lifeless,  so  with 
the  advance  of  Kali,  the  spiritual  life  becomes 
centered  in  the  heart  of  the  earth.  This  heart 
of  the  earth  is  called  in  the  ancient  Scriptures 
the  Sea-Girt  Isle  or  peninsula,  the  Belt  of  the 
Earth's  Body — now  called  India.  In  this  heart 
only  of  the  earth  live  the  original  four-caste 
people,  while  the  rest,  broken  away  and  di- 
vorced from  the  parent  stock  and  religion,  are 
scattered  all  over  the  rest  of  her  body. 

The  signs  of  advanced  Kali  are  already  visi- 
ble all  over  the  earth  at  the  present  moment, 
nay,  even  of  its  most  degenerated  stage,  espe- 

156 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

cially  in  the  West — signs  and  symptoms  which 
are  manifesting  themselves  here  and  there  even 
in  men  of  the  Root  Race.  What  a  horrid  state 
of  affairs  the  closing  period  of  Kali  will  bring 
about  may  be  judged  from  the  prophesies  made 
five  thousand  years  ago  by  the  illuminated 
sages  of  this  Root  Race,  prophesies  which  are 
correct  in  startling  exactitude  and  some  of 
which  are  on  all  fours  with  the  signs  and  char- 
acteristics of  our  present  period,  as  will  be 
seen  from  a  few  extracts  from  them  given 
below. 

The  conditions  of  the  different  stages  of 
Kali  have  been  described  in  all  the  eighteen 
Puranas,  and  the  Mahabharata  which  embody 
the  history  of  the  human  race  from  creation  to 
destruction — the  past,  present  and  future 
phases  of  human  society  of  all  times  and  of  all 
climes.  The  following  few  details  translated 
from  a  minute  description  of  the  early,  mid- 
dle and  final  stages  of  the  Kali,  given  by  the 
Sage  Markandeya,  in  reply  to  questions  put  in 
regard  to  Kali  by  King  Yudhisthira  in  an 
assemblage  of  saints,  kings  and  nobles,  inspired 
by  incarnated  Krishna,  who  was  present  in  per- 

157 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

son,  will  be  of  interest  to  most  of  my  readers : 
Raja  Yudhisthira,  Emperorer  of  Bharat- 
varsha,  the  central  of  the  seven  continents  of 
the  ancient  world  (now  known  as  all  the 
world),  during  his  sojourn  among  the  Rishis 
(saints)  of  Kamyak  Forest,  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  the  future  state  of  the  world,  asked 
the  immortal  saint  (Brahmarshi)  Markandeya, 
"Holy  one!  After  having  heard  your  wonder- 
ful accounts  of  the  creation  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  universe,  we  have  become  anxious 
to  hear  about  Kali  Yuga,  and  we  beg  you  to 
describe  this  age  in  detail  to  us.  What  results 
will  be  produced  by  the  destruction  of  the  Root 
Religion?  What  will  the  valor,  strength,  food, 
behavior,  costume  and  longevity  of  the  human 
race  be  like?  And  how  long  after  will 
commence  the  Satya  Yuga  (Golden  Age) 
again  ?" 

Saint  Markandeya  answered :  "O  King !  In 
the  Satya  Yuga,  virtue  being  void  of  the  least 
touch  of  greed,  deception  and  other  evil  quali- 
ties of  the  mind,  was  like  a  full  four-footed 
bull.  In  the  Treta,  it  lost  one  and  in  the 
Dwapar  two  feet.  In  the  Dark  Age  it  will  be 

158 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

only  one-footed,  the  other  three  feet  being 
destroyed  by  vice. 

"The  longevity,  heroism,  intelligence, 
strength  and  mind-force  of  mankind  are  grad- 
ually decreasing  age  by  age;  they  will  de- 
crease still  more  in  the  Kali.  The  Kings, 
Brahmans,  Vaishyas  and  Sudras  will  practice 
false  piety,  and  this  false  piety  will  be  turned 
into  a  means  for  cheating  others.  Love  of 
truth  will  decline  in  men;  decline  in  love  of 
truth  will  cause  shortness  of  life;  shortness  of 
life  will  prevent  the  proper  cultivation  of  wis- 
dom. Little  wisdom  will  beget  ignorance,  ig- 
norance will  beget  greed,  greed  anger,  anger 
delusion.  And  swayed  by  greed,  anger,  delu- 
sion and  sensuality,  they  will  be  envious  of  and 
antagonistic  to  each  other. 

"The  twice-born  castes  will  become  void  of 
truth  and  holy  meditation.  The  mean  Chan- 
dais  (pariahs)  will  behave  like  Kshatriyas  and 
Kshatriyas  will  imitate  the  ways  of  the  Chan- 
dais.  Husbands  will  become  extremely  hen- 
pecked; feed  upon  fish,  flesh  and  milk 
of  goat  and  sheep.  Man  will  aggress  upon 
man  and  develop  an  irreligious,  atheistic  and 
thievish  nature. 

159 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

"People  will  not  discriminate  about  the  eat- 
ableness  or  uneatableness  of  any  food.  Brah- 
mans  will  cease  performing  spiritual  practices, 
will  denounce  the  Vedas,  and  being  deluded 
by  false  discussion  give  up  holy  ceremonials 
and  engage  themselves  in  mean  actions.  Father 
and  son  will  feel  no  compunction  in  killing 
each  other,  but  will  rather  feel  delighted  at 
the  deed  and  call  it  an  act  of  God. 

"The  whole  world  will  become  Mlechha  (un- 
clean and  barbarous)  void  of  religious  per- 
formances and  ceremonials,  gladness  and  fes- 
tivities. Almost  all  people  will  be  miserly, 
defame  their  friends  and  defraud  and  steal 
the  money  of  poor  unprotected  widows.  They 
will  possess  little  strength  and  no  energy,  yet 
be  greedy  and  filled  with  material,  sensual  at- 
tachments ;  will  gladly  listen  to  the  advices  of 
well-known  bad  persons  and  accept  charity 
by  false  pretences. 

"Conceited  yet  illiterate  kings  will  challenge 
one  another  to  fight,  will  try  to  kill  one  anoth- 
er, and  will  be  like  thorns  in  the  sides  of  their 
subjects.  Setting  at  naught  their  duties  of  pro- 
tecting the  people,  they  will,  swayed  by  greed 

160 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

and  pride,  be  ever  anxious  to  rob  and  punish 
them,  and,  prompted  by  their  cruel  heart,  they 
will  snatch  away  the  property  and  wives  of 
honest  and  pious  men. 

"None  will  ask  a  father  for  his  daughter  to 
marry,  and  no  father  will  offer  his  daughter 
in  marriage.  The  daughters  will  choose  and 
marry  their  own  choice  without  consulting 
anybody  or  going  through  any  ceremonials. 

"Brother  will  cheat  brother.  Even  learned 
persons  will  lose  love  of  truth  and  be  addicted 
to  telling  lies;  the  old  will  act  like  boys,  boys 
like  old  people.  Cowards  will  brag  of  their 
bravery  and  brave  men  will  act  like  cowards. 
All  will  eat  the  same  kinds  of  food  and  be 
filled  with  selfishness  and  delusion.  No  one 
will  trust  another. 

"Brahmans,  Kshatriyas  and  Vaishyas  will 
cease  to  restrain  and  rule  the  Sudras  or  even 
each  other.  All  castes  will  be  levelled  and  be- 
come one — unclean  and  barbarous.  Fathers 
will  not  pardon  sons,  nor  sons  pardon  their 
fathers.  Wives  will  cease  from  attending  upon 
their  husbands;  men  and  women  will  all  be 
self-willed  and  envious  of  each  other.  People 

161 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

will  not  perform  any  good  works  or  cere- 
monies to  satisfy  the  gods.  They  will  not 
listen  to  each  other;  there  will  be  no  gooroo 
(teacher)  or  chela  (pupil),  all  will  be  filled 
with  the  darkness  of  ignorance.  At  Kali-end, 
their  longevity  will  be  sixteen  years ;  most  will 
die  immediately  after  that  age  is  reached. 
Women  will  give  birth  to  children  at  the  age 
of  seven  or  eight,  and,  in  some  cases,  even  at 
five  or  six ;  men  will  beget  children  at  the  age 
of  ten  or  twelve ;  in  some  cases,  even  at  the  age 
of  seven  or  eight.  No  husband  will  be  satisfied 
with  his  wife,  no  wife  satisfied  with  her  hus- 
band. They  will  have  very  little  wealth,  and 
even  those  who  will  have  no  wealth  whatever 
will  wear  the  false  marks  of  wealth.  Envy 
will  be  predominant  in  every  mind,  hunger 
ever  burning  in  every  stomach.  Cross-roads 
and  streets  will  be  thronged  by  wantons  and 
libertines.  Women,  forsaking  shame,  will 
bear  spite  and  grudge  for  their  husbands. 
Men  will  be  all  of  unclean  habits,  manners  and 
customs,  eat  anything  and  everything  and  will 
be  terrible  in  every  way  and  action.  They 
will  cheat  all  in  buying  and  selling  of  goods, 
out  of  sheer  greed. 

162 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

"None  will  care  to  acquire  spiritual  wisdom, 
yet  all  will  be  busied  in  performing-  spiritual 
ceremonies  for  form's  sake  and  be  naturally 
addicted  to  crooked  acts.  They  will  show  the 
faults  of  each  other.  People  will  live  in  con- 
stant fear  of  losing  their  lives  as  victims  of 
their  own  greed  and  envy.  The  Sudras  will 
kill  Brahmans  and  rob  them  of  their  property, 
and  the  Brahmans  being  thus  oppressed  will 
cry  out  in  agony  and  out  of  fear  will  roam 
unprotected  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Some 
of  them  will  take  refuge  in  lonely  spots  on 
river  banks,  in  mountains  and  in  dangerous 
places  to  save  their  lives;  others  being- 
oppressed  by  the  grinding  taxes  of  unjust 
kings,  will  lose  all  patience,  and  taking  to  the 
services  of  Sudras,  will  perform  forbidden  acts. 

"The  generality  of  people  will  become  fierce 
and  of  murderous  propensities.  The  Sudras 
will  become  spiritual  preceptors  and  Brahmans 
will  listen  to  them,  believing  their  wrong  pre- 
cepts to  be  demonstrated  facts.  The  low  will 
be  high  and  the  high  low ;  all  conditions  will 
be  reversed.  All,  all  people  will  forsake  God 
and  worship  Mammon.  The  Sudras  will 

163 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

cease  from  serving  Brahmans.  The  Earth  will 
no  longer  be  adorned  by  the  temples  of  God. 
All  mankind  will  be  impious  and  develop 
frightful  characters.  Meat  will  be  their  food, 
liquor  their  drink.  The  one  object  of  life  will 
be  to  increase  flesh  and  blood.  The  rain- 
clouds  towards  the  close  of  Kali  will  pour 
down  rains  out  of  season  so  that,  overwhelmed 
by  incessant  and  untimely  rain,  people  will 
subsist  on  fruit  and  roots.  Pupils  will  not 
care  for  the  lessons  of  their  teachers,  temporal 
or  other,  and  will  act  against  their  wishes. 
The  poverty-stricken  Gooroos  (spiritual 
teachers)  will  curse  their  disciples.  There 
will  not  be  the  least  trace  of  respect  left  in  the 
world.  The  relations  of  friends  and  kiths  and 
kins  wrill  depend  upon  obligations  of  money. 

"At  the  close  of  the  cycle  flowers  will  grow 
upon  flowers,  fruits  upon  fruits,  and,  owing 
to  the  rains  not  falling  in  season,  there  will 
grow  but  scanty  crops,  so  that  famine-stricken 
populations  of  the  earth  will  cry  out  in  hunger 
and  roam  upon  her  surface.  Fragrant  things 
will  lose  their  odor,  sweet  juices  will  lose  their 
sweetness,  seeds  will  not  germinate  properly. 

164 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

Women  will  transfer  their  love  from  husbands 
to  servants.  All  women,  including  wives  of 
heroes,  will  prefer  somebody  else  to  their  hus- 
bands for  lovers.  Pious  men  will  be  in  mean 
stations,  short-lived  and  poor;  vicious  men 
will  occupy  high  positions,  have  long  life  and 
prosperity.  There  will  be  constant  breaking 
out  of  fires  all  over  the  land.  Tired  and 
hungry  wayfarers  will  ask  for  food  and  refuge 
from  householders  in  vain,  and  out  of  despair 
rest  and  sleep  upon  the  road.  Crows  and  other 
birds,  snakes  and  beasts  will  make  unearthly 
noises." 

When  Nature  and  human  society  will  be 
thus  revolutionized,  reaction  will  naturally  set 
in.  When  the  fruit  of  Divine  Cycle  will  thus 
reach  its  extreme  stage  of  rottenness,  out  of 
its  seed  will  spring  forth  a  shoot  which  will 
grow  into  a  fresh. tree.  That  tree,  in  turn, 
will  bear  fresh  fruit — a  fresh  Divine  Cycle. 
In  this  state  of  the  darkest  gloom,  faint  streaks 
of  russet  light  will  be  visible  which  will  grow 
bright  anon  and  give  birth  to  the  dawn  of  the 
Golden  Age  again. 

Reaction  is  the  law  of  Nature,  reaction  is 

165 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  result  of  every  phase  of  action.  When  vice 
has  its  full  run  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  when 
it  has  reached  its  lowest  depth  and  wildest 
reign,  it  spends  its  force,  becomes  weakened, 
allowing  virtue  to  lift  its  head  once  more  and 
build  its  palace  of  light  upon  its  ruins.  Vice 
is  born  of  Tama,  and  virtue  of  Sattwa  and 
the  active  force  of  both  is  Raja.  Time  is  the 
self-manifesting  kaleidoscopic  revolution  of 
color-pictures  on  the  transparent  canvas  of 
ether.  After  the  deepest  shades  of  dark  colors 
are  exhausted,  there  is  a  reaction  of  lighter 
colors.  When  Tama  has  exhausted  its  force, 
Sattwa  asserts  itself  by  natural  law. 

This  healthy  reaction  growing  stronger  will 
gradually  evolve  some  order  out  of  the  chaos 
of  the  closing  Kali.  A  portion  of  the  people 
will  get  disgusted  with  the  reign  of  utmost 
licence  and  inharmony,  and,  endowed  with 
strong  mental  force  to  resist  the  influence  of 
the  age,  will  pierce  the  veil  of  darkness  en- 
veloping everything  and  see  the  light  that 
dwells  within.  These  will  stimulate  this  re- 
action, and  spread  the  discovered  light  among 
others  groping  in  the  darkness  for  that  light. 

166 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

The  four  castes  will  be  gradually  established 
once  more  in  some  fashion. 

At  this  stage  will  be  born  in  the  village  of 
Sambhalpur  in  India  a  Brahman  of  great 
spiritual  force,  named  Vishnujasha,  and  in 
time  will  become  the  father  of  the  coming  In- 
carnation of  Vishnoo,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful incarnations — Kalki.  The  Lord  Kalki  will 
rapidly  grow  into  youth  and  spiritual  power. 
At  his  mere  mental  call  will  come  to  him 
countless  vehicles,  armours,  all  kinds  of 
weapons  of  war  and  soldiers.  He  will  then 
lead  them  to  battle  against  all  the  Mlechhas, 
robbers  and  tyrants,  all  over  the  world,  who 
will  fall  shouting  in  agony  before  his  mam- 
moth sword.  After  extirpating  them  all,  the 
Lord  will  establish  once  again  perfect  order 
and  harmony  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  After 
ruling  the  world  as  Emperor  and  infusing  into 
humanity  the  spirit  of  highest  spirituality, 
Kalki  will  make  over  the  charge  of  the  earth 
to  the  Brahmans  and  disappear  after  entering 
a  most  beautiful  forest. 

Here  will  commence  the  Junction  period  of 
the  coming  Golden  Age.  During  this  period, 
167 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

covering  144,000  lunar  years,  all  germs  of 
vice,  crime  and  sin  will  be  destroyed  and  men 
will  become  engaged  in  spiritual  practices  and 
ceremonials.  The  earth  will  be  adorned  with 
beautiful  forests  and  gardens,  buildings,  lakes, 
reservoirs,  and  temples  of  God  and  many  are 
the  sacred  ceremonies  that  will  be  constantly 
performed  on  her  surface.  Everywhere  will  be 
visible  holy  Brahmans,  saints  and  anchorites. 
The  four  stages  of  life  which  before  were  rilled 
with  rogues  will  now  be  filled  by  pious,  honest 
and  truthful  men.  The  deep-rooted  bad  in- 
stincts and  associations  will  then  be  driven  out 
of  the  minds  of  all  people.  All  the  crops  will 
grow  plentifully  in  their  proper  seasons.  All 
people  will  be  employed  in  charitable  acts, 
religious  sacrifices,  and  in  performing  spirit- 
ual duties.  The  Brahmans  will  again  be  ab- 
sorbed in  holy  meditations,  satisfied  and  serene  ; 
the  Kshatriyas  will  exhibit  their  valor;  the 
kings  rule  the  world  with  justice  and  mercy; 
the  Vaishyas  carry  on  trade  and  agriculture ; 
the  Sudras  serve  the  three  upper  castes  with 
loving  service. 

This  purifying  process  of  humanity  will  be 

163 


THE  IRON  AGE. 

carried  on  all  through  the  144,000  years 
bringing  about  the  highest  spiritual,  mental 
and  physical  development.  From  the  shortest 
stature  to  which  the  human  body  will  be  de- 
creased, it  will  gradually,  through  this  long 
process  of  time  and  culture,  be  increased  once 
again  to  the  height  of  21  cubits  or  31^  feet. 
With  the  height  of  the  body  will  be  reached 
the  height  of  spiritual  perfection.  All,  all 
men  and  women  will  once  again  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  predominant  Sattwa  within  Na- 
ture and  roam  upon  the  earth  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden  with  their  vision  turned  inwards  into 
the  soul  of  things,  their  body  clad  with  the  sky, 
their  hearts  filled  with  ecstasy,  their  thoughts 
centered  upon  God.  We  all  who  are  now  walk- 
ing the  earth,  had  walked  in  the  last  Golden 
Age  and  formed  members  of  that  godly  fra- 
ternity of  Adams  and  Eves  and  shall  do  so 
in  the  coming  Golden  Age,  unless  we  develop 
higher  soul-consciousness  and,  before  the  end 
of  the  present  Kali,  transfer  ourselves  to  any 
of  the  upper  four  spheres  or  to  the  highest 
beyond  the  universe — Golaka — the  abode  of 
Absolute  Love,  to  dwell  with  our  only  Lover 
and  Beloved — Krishna. 

169 


SECTION  XL 

MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

THE  next  larger  cycle  of  time  is  called  the 
Manwantara  or  the  Deluge.  When  the  Divine 
Cycle  has  revolved  71  times  it  brings  about 
a  cataclysm.  The  oceans  surge  up  and  cover 
the  entire  earth  with  its  waters,  even  the 
highest  peaks  of  the  Himalayas  being  sub- 
merged, and  remain  so  for  the  period  of  71 
Divine  Cycles.  This  world-wide  natural  ca- 
tastrophy  occurs  periodically,  owing  to  more 
and  more  increased  accumulation  of  the  sins 
of  humanity,  who,  along  with  all  living  beings 
and  vegetation  are  thus  destroyed  by  submer- 
sion. The  only  man  saved  is  the  most  virtuous 
and  spiritual  man  of  the  time,  who  becomes  the 
Manoo  elect,  fliat  is,  the  spiritual  governor  of 
the  next  Cycle  which  extends  between  the 
time  of  the  reappearance  of  land  after  the  Del- 
uge to  the  next  Deluge.  This  period  is  called 
Manwantara,  the  period  between  two  Manoos. 
The  account  of  the  Deluge  as  given  in  the  Old 
Testament  of  the  Bible  has  been  taken  from 

170 


MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

minute  accounts  recorded  in  the  Matsya 
(Fish)  Purana  and  the  condensed  facts  about 
them  given  in  all  the  Puranas  as  well  as  the 
Mahabharata.  Only,  the  Bible  version  is  dis- 
torted in  some  particulars. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  present  Kalpa 
creation,  six  Manwantaras,  each  ending  with 
the  Deluge,  have  passed  away.  We  are  just 
now  living  in  the  seventh  of  which  twenty- 
seven  Divine  Cycles  have  rolled  away  and  we 
are  now  living  in  the  Iron  Age  of  the  twenty- 
eighth.  Many  millions  of  years  therefore  have 
gone  by  since  the  last  Flood.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  Kali  Yuga  of  the  last  Manwantara, 
mankind  became  filled  with  the  utmost  cor- 
ruption. But  there  was,  according  to  the  Ma- 
habharata and  the  Bhagavat  Purana,  one  man, 
by  the  name  of  King  Satyavrata,  whom  this 
spirit  of  corruption  failed  to  touch.  He  was 
almost  as  pure  and .  spiritually  powerful  as 
Brahma,  the  Creator,  while  he  was  possessed 
of  uncommon  physical  beauty.  He  was  en- 
gaged in  spiritual  austerities  and  meditation 
in  a  holy  forest  on  the  top  of  the  Himalayan 
Mountains  for  many  hundred  years.  One  day, 
171 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

while  he  was  sitting  in  contemplation  on  the 
bank  of  the  river  Cheerinee,  a  little  fish  lept 
out  of  the  water  into  his  hands.  He  threw  it 
back  into  the  river  but  the  fish,  to  his  surprise, 
spoke  and  begged  the  king  to  protect  him  from 
a  large  fish  coming  to  devour  him.  Satya- 
vrata  out  of  compassion  took  the  fish  into  his 
hands  again,  went  home  and  placed  it  in  a 
water-pot.  He  tended  him  as  his  own  off- 
spring. The  fish  gradually  grew  so  big  that 
he  had  to  be  taken  to  a  large  pond,  but  after  a 
few  years  the  pond  could  no  more  hold  the 
fish,  so  large  had  it  become.  The  King 
wondering  at  this  unprecedented  growth  sus- 
pected the  fish  to  be  Vishnoo  Himself.  The 
fish  begged  Satyavrata  to  put  him  into  the 
holy  Ganges  which  he  did  by  his  Yoga  power. 
In  time,  however,  the  fish  growing  still  larger, 
he  had  to  be  taken  to  the  ocean.  The  King 
exhibited  his  yoga-power  again  by  carrying 
that  huge  fish  to  the  ocean. 

As  soon  as  he  was  thrown  into  the  sea,  the 

phenomenal  Fish  smiled  and  thus  addressed 

the  King,  "O  thou  kind  one !  Thou  hast  saved 

and  protected  me  in  every  way,  but  I   will 

172 


MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

leave  nothing  undone  to  return  this  kindness. 
Now,  listen !  The  time  has  come  for  one  of 
the  great  events  of  the  world.  The  destruction 
of  the  earth  is  at  hand.  On  the  seventh  day 
from  this,  the  earth  shall  be  swallowed  up  by 
the  waters,  from  which  thou  canst  not  be  saved 
except  through  me.  A  large  ark  shall  come  to 
thee  into  which  thou  must  get  with  the  seven 
Rishis  (Illumined  Beings)  of  the  Great  Bear 
who  shall  help  and  bear  you  company.  Take 
thou  also  all  kinds  of  seeds  of  all  trees,  plants, 
shrubs  and  creepers,  as  also  pairs  of  all  animals 
and  creeping  things  on  this  boat  and  wait  for 
me.  I  will  soon  appear  there,  bedecked  with 
horns.  Do  not  doubt  my  words,  but  do  as  I 
tell  thee." 

The  strange  Fish  then  disappeared  as  Sa- 
tyavrata  said,  "So  shall  it  be."  He  then  did 
just  as  the  Fish  had  told  him.  When  the  ark 
came,  he  went  aboard  with  the  Seven  Rishis  of 
the  Great  Bear  and  seeds  and  animals  and 
waited  in  anxious  contemplation  of  the  Divine 
Fish  which  soon  appeared  as  he  had  promised, 
bedecked  with  horns  and  high  as  a  hillock.  He 
made  salutation  to  him  and  tied  the  ark  to  his 
173 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

horns  with  a  strong  heavy  rope,  whereupon 
the  Fish  pulled  the  ark  with  great  speed  and 
began  to  play  upon  the  bosom  of  the  ocean. 

Then  the  ocean  heaved  with  huge  waves  and 
the  waters  roared.  It  all  looked  as  if  the  ocean 
was  performing  a  wild  dance.  The  ark  was 
then  tossed  and  whirled  about  with  great  force, 
and  soon  not  a  trace  of  land  or  sign  of  any 
direction  was  visible.  Earth  and  sky  seemed 
one  vast  expanse  of  water  under  which  all 
men  and  beasts  and  birds  and  vegetation  were 
drowned  and  destroyed.  The  Fish  and  the 
ark  and  Satyavrata  with  the  Seven  Rishis  and 
the  seeds  and  animals  alone  existed.  The 
Divine  Fish  drew  and  preserved  the  ark  for 
many  years  on  the  surface  of  the  deep. 

Long,  long  time  after,  when  the  waters  sub- 
sided and  the  highest  peak  of  the  Himalayas 
made  itself  visible,  the  Fish  drew  the  ark  to 
it  and  said  in  a  pleasant  voice,  addressing  the 
Rishis,  "O  ye  illumined  ones !  Bind  the  boat 
for  a  while  to  this  mountain-peak,"  which  the 
Rishis  did.  In  commemoration  of  this  event, 
this  peak  of  the  Himalayas  is  still  called  the 
"Boat-Binding  Peak." 

174 


MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

When  the  ark  was  safely  tied,  the  Fish  said 
again  to  the  Rishis :  "I  am  Brahma  of  Brahma, 
the  Creator.  I  have  taken  the  form  of  the 
Fish  to  save  you  all  from  the  Flood.  Now  this 
Satyavrata  will  be  known  as  Vaivaswata 
Manoo.  He  will,  by  my  grace  and  power  of 
his  Yoga,  create  all  mobile  and  immobile 
beings  of  the  earth,  gods  and  asuras  and  men." 
So  saying  the  Fish  vanished. 

Vaivashwata  Manoo,  who  is  also  called 
Shraddhadeva,  then  sat  in  meditation  and  in 
time,  by  his  Yoga-power,  created  all  the  beings 
and  creatures  of  the  earth  and  celestial  planes 
as  he  was  bidden  to  do. 

This  is  the  shortest  sketch  of  a  very  long 
account  of  the  Deluge  in  the  Hindoo  Books. 
The  word  Manoo  has  been  distorted  into  the 
word  "Noah"  in  the  Old  Testament. 

In  the  distorted  version  of  the  Deluge  in 
the  Holy  Bible,  this  principal  factor  of  the 
preservation  of  Noah  and  his  Ark,  the  Divine 
Fish,  has  not  been  mentioned  out  of  ignorance 
of  the  detailed  facts  of  the  cataclysm.  This 
ignorance  is  excusable,  judging  from  the  fact 
of  the  remoteness  of  the  time  when  the  last 

175 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Flood  occurred.  What  the  Bible  estimates  as 
6,000  years  the  Hindoo  Books  put  down  at 
more  than  4,000,000,  when  Manoo  (Noah) 
was  afloat  on  the  waters  of  the  universal  in- 
undation. The  Divine  Fish  is  an  incarnation 
of  Vishnoo  who  is  worshipped  and  prayed  to 
in  that  form  even  now  in  India.  When  God 
Himself  in  Fish-form  was  the  guide  and  pro- 
tector of  Manoo  there  was  no  need  of  birds 
being-  sent  out  to  reconnoitre  as  to  the  re- 
appearance of  land.  It  was  the  Fish  that  first 
espied  the  highest  peak  of  the  Himalayas  vis- 
ible above  the  waters  and  drew  the  ark  to  it 
and  asked  Noah  and  the  Seven  Rishis  to  bind 
that  boat  to  that  peak.  That  peak  is  still  called 
the  Boat-Binding  Peak,  the  Sanscrit  word 
being  "Nou-Bandhan"  peak.  The  Bible  calls 
it  the  Ararat  arid  they  are  now  trying  to  locate 
it  in  Syria  and  many  other  places.  Even  a 
common  sense  view  of  the  matter  ought  to 
decide  in  favor  of  the  Himalayas  which  are 
ever  known  as  the  highest  mountains.  That 
the  first  subsidence  of  the  waters  should  first 
uncover  a  Himalayan  peak  is  only  natural  to 
suppose. 

176 


MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

With  the  appointment  of  a  new  Manoo  are 
also  appointed  some  highly  spiritual  souls  as 
gods,  as  well  as  the  Seven  Rishis  (illuminated 
beings)  who  govern  the  seven  stars  of  the 
Great  Bear,  in  the  places  of  the  gods  and 
Rishis  of  the  past  Manwantara,  whose  terms  of 
office  extend  through  the  duration  of  one  Man- 
wantara, the  cyclic  period  between  two  deluges. 
As  every  civilized  country  on  the  face  of  the 
Earth  is  governed  by  a  king  and  ministers 
and  officers,  according  to  systematic  laws  and 
regulations,  the  three  spheres  Bhur,  Bhuba, 
Swar  are  likewise  ruled  by  a  king,  ministers 
and  officers.  The  government  of  the  British 
Dominions  may  be  taken  as  some  sort  of  ex- 
ample to  illustrate  the  Divine  Administration. 
If  we  take  England  as  the  Swar  sphere,  Ire- 
land as  the  Bhuba  sphere,  India  and  Canada 
may  stand  for  the  Bhur  or  Earth  sphere. 
Manoo,  governor  of  the  three  spheres,  can  be 
likened  to  the  King  of  England,  though,  unlike 
the  English  King,  he  is  invested  with  Supreme 
power ;  Indra  is  his  Prince  Minister.  The  Seven 
Rishis  of  the  Great  Bear  may  be  called  his 
independent  Cabinet  Ministers  and  Advisers 
177 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

but  superior  to  him  in  wisdom  and  intelligence. 
The  gods  may  be  compared  to  Members  of 
Parliament,  Secretaries  of  India  and  the  Col- 
onies and  departmental  administrators.  The 
Sons  of  Manoo  act  like  Governor-Generals  of 
India  and  Canada,  etc. 

At  the  beginning  of  a  Kalpa  cycle,  which  is 
measured  by  one  thousand  Divine  cycles  or  a 
little  over  14  Manwantaras,  the  Manoos,  Ris- 
his  and  gods  of  all  the  14  Manwantaras  are 
selected  beforehand.  We  are  now  living  in 
the  Seventh  Manwantara.  Shraddhadeva, 
called  also  Vaivaswata,  is  our  Manoo. 
The  Saints  Kasyapa,  Atri,  Vasistha,  Viswa- 
mitra,  Gautama,  Jamadagni  and  Bharadwaja 
are  the  seven  Rishis;  Purandar  is  the  present 
Indra.  The  Manoos,  the  Rishis,  the  Indras 
are  all  named  for  the  coming  seven  Manwan- 
taras of  the  present  Kalpa  in  the  Shastras. 

The  prevalent  belief  among  Western  Orien- 
talists is  that  Manoo  was  a  man  who  was  born 
a  few  hundred  years  ago  and  died  a  natural 
death  after  writing  his  law  institutes  for  the 
Hindoos.  A  more  erroneous  idea  could  not 
exist  from  the  Hindoo  point  of  view.  Manoo, 
178 


MANWANTARA  OR  THE  DELUGE. 

being  the  spiritual  administrator  of  the  three 
worlds,  has  to  live  all  through  his  term  of 
office,  which  extends  through  71  Divine  cycles 
of  which  we  are  living  in  the  28th.  Every 
Manoo  incarnates  himself  as  a  Rishi  towards 
the  end  of  every  Golden  Age  and  compiles  his 
law,  and  institutes  for  the  benefit  of  humanity, 
while  the  seven  Rishis  incarnate  among  men 
at  the  end  of  each  Kali  Yuga  to  reveal  the 
truths  of  the  Vedas  which  are  forgotten  and 
lost  before  that  time. 


179 


SECTION  XII. 

THE   KALPA    CYCLE. 

WHEN  the  Golden,  Silver,  Copper  and  Iron 
Ages,  forming  the  Divine  Cycle,  have  revolved 
for  1,000  times  they  complete  a  still  larger 
cycle  than  the  Manwantara,  called  the  Kalpa. 
As  each  Manwantara  is  wound  up  with  a 
Deluge,  each  Kalpa  brings  about  a  still  great- 
er disastrous  event,  that  of  the  destruction 
of  the  lower  three  spheres  of  the  universe,  the 
Bhur,  Bhuba  and  Swar.  The  description 
given  of  this  great  cyclic  event  in  the  Puranas 
as  well  as  in  the  Mahabharata,  especialy  by  the 
Immortal  Markandeya  who  has  seen  it  many 
times,  are  simply  appalling  to  the  imagination 
of  puny  man/ 

As  I  have  already  said  it  is  only  the  exces- 
sive accumulation  of  human  sins  (Tama-life) 
that  causes  these  natural  catastrophies.  The 
sum  of  sins  which  causes  the  Kalpa  dissolution 
is  many  times  greater  than  that  which  is  the 
cause  of  the  Flood.  Human  sins,  however, 
are  the  immediate  cause.  The  real  or  latent 

180 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

cause  is  to  be  found  in  the  operations  of  the 
Cardinal  Attributes  of  Nature.  Sattwa  and 
Raja  are  absolutely  subdued  by  Tama,  which 
then  growing  more  and  more  intense  bursts 
into  a  flame  out  of  the  friction  of  its  own 
forces.  This  conflagration  first  manifests  it- 
self through  etheric  matter  in  the  shape  of 
seven  suns  suddenly  appearing  in  the  heavens 
and  with  their  combined  heat  burning  down 
the  three  spheres  into  ashes.  This  is  followed 
by  the  appearance  of  strange  clouds  which 
then  burst  and  deluge  the  ash-turned  earth. 
The  ash,  in  process  of  time,  is  absorbed  by 
the  water;  then  the  air,  turned  into  violent 
winds,  absorbs  the  water;  and  then,  when  the 
air  has  been  absorbed  by  ether  (Akash),  the 
destruction  of  the  three  spheres  is  completed. 

The  Immortal  Markandeya  described  this 
Pralaya  (Dissolution)  five  thousand  years  ago 
to  King  Yudhisthira  in  the  presence  of  Krish- 
na and  the  assembled  sages  in  the  Kamyak 
Forest.  The  following  is  a  summary  of  his 
statement : 

"O  King!  At  the  end  the  Kali  Yuga 
(previous  to  this  Pralaya),  when  the  earthly 

181 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

days  of  all  beings  have  come  to  an  end,  no 
rains  will  fall  on  earth  for  many  successive 
years  in  consequence  of  which  all  beings  on 
earth  will  die,  owing  to  unbearable  heat  and 
hunger  caused  by  drought  and  famine.  Then 
will  appear  simultaneously  in  the  heavens  seven 
suns  which  will  draw  all  the  waters  from  all 
seas  and  rivers.  Whether  dry  or  wet,  what- 
ever grass  or  wood  there  is  on  earth,  will  be 
reduced  to  tinder.  Then  will  spring  up  the 
Fire,  called  Samvartak,  which,  aided  by  the 
wind,  will  attack  the  sun-absorbed  earth  and, 
piercing  its  surface,  will  burn  all  there  is  in  its 
bowels.  Indeed,  by  this  wind-helped  Sam- 
vartak Fire  all  created  beings  from  the  gods  to 
creeping  things  and  all  that  now  exists  in  the 
three  worlds  will  be  destroyed  and  trans- 
formed into  one  huge  heap  of  ashes. 

"Then  will  apear  in  the  firmament  wonder- 
ful-looking, liglitening-bedecked  clouds,  ar- 
rayed as  garlanded  rows  of  elephants.  These 
clouds  are,  some  of  them,  of  the  color  of  the 
blue  lotus,  some  of  the  color  of  the  Koomood 
flower,  some  of  the  color  of  the  golden  heart 
of  the  lotus,  some  yellow,  some  green,  some 
182 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

speckled  gray,  like  the  color  of  the  crow's 
egg,  some  colored  like  lotus  leaves,  some  are 
light  brown,  others  look  like  large  cities, 
others  like  hordes  of  elephants,  others  like  the 
color  of  eye-cosmetics,  others  shaped  like 
crocodiles.  These  mysterious-looking,  deep- 
scunding  rain-clouds,  sent  by  God,  spreading 
themselves  over  the  sky,  will  send  down  rains 
in  a  continuous  stream,  like  watery  pillars 
descending  from  above,  inundating  all  the  ash- 
heaped  mountains  and  valleys,  and  extinguish 
the  fearful  Samvartak  Fire. 

"O  King  of  the  Pandus!  Thus,  after 
these  rains  have  fallen  continuowsly  for  twelve 
years,  the  waters  of  the  seas  will  rise  in  a  flood 
and  cover  the  earth,  at  which,  the  still  solid 
cohesiveness  of  her  mountains  giving  way, 
the  earth  will  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
Then  the  clouds,  driven  by  the  powerful 
winds  in  all  directions,  will  suddenly  disap- 
pear. Then  he  of  the  Lotus-Abode  and 
Lotus-born,  the  primeval  god,  Brahma,  drink- 
ing in  the  winds  and  the  air,  will  fall  into 
sleep  at  the  close  of  his  day." 

The  lower  three  spheres — Bhur,  Bhuba  and 

183 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Swar —  are  thus  dissolved  and  there  is  nothing 
in  their  place  but  one  vast  expanse  of  water. 
The  upper  four  spheres,  Mahar,  Jana,  Tapa 
and  Satya  or  Brahma,  remain  intact.  The 
dwellers  of  the  Mahar  Loka,  however,  unable 
to  bear  the  heat  of  the  Samvartak  Fire  during 
the  earth's  destruction,  leave  it  and  go  up 
to  the  Jana  to  live  there  during  the  duration  of 
the  Pralaya. 

Now,  the  question  may  be  asked,  why  these 
four  upper  heavens  are  not  destroyed,  and 
how  can  there  be  an  ocean  of  water  when  the 
Water  Element  is  destroyed  along  with  the 
other  Elements? 

The  answer  is  very  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive. There  are  two  kinds  or  states  of  these 
Five  Elements — Ether,  Air,  Fire,  Water, 
Earth.  One  may  be  called  Pure  and  the 
other  Mixed.  The  Pure  state  of  an  Element 
means  wholly  unmixed  by  even  the  least  touch 
or  tinge  of  the  other  four  elements.  A  mixed 
Element  is  made  up  of  half  part  of  one  Ele- 
ment mixed  with  one-eighth  part  of  each  of 
the  other  four  Elements.  The  Bhur,  Bhuba 
and  Swar  are  made  of  these  five  Mixed  Ele- 

184 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

ments  which  being  destroyed  by  this  Kalpa 
Pralaya,  the  three  spheres  are  necessarily 
destroyed  too.  The  Upper  four  spheres  are 
made  of  the  Unmixed  Elements  and  hence 
they  survive  the  Kalpa  dissolution  of  the 
Mixed  Elements.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
dwellers  of  these  upper  realms  are  possessed 
of  a  physical  body  made  of  these  Five  Pure 
Elements,  and  in  the  highest  realms  the 
dwellers  have  no  physical  bodies  at  all  and 
therefore  no  elements  in  their  make-up.  The 
bodies  of  some  of  them  are  formed  of  the 
Five  Finest  Essences  of  the  Elements — Sound, 
Touch,  Form,  Taste  and  Smell;  and  of 
others,  the  highest  beings  in  the  Brahma 
Loka,  of  nothing  but  Consciousness  and  Ego 
and  Ensouled  Mind. 

The  water  of  the  Watery  Expanse,  into 
which  the  lower  three  spheres  are  reduced 
by  the  Kalpa  Pralaya,  is  this  Unmixed  Pure 
Water,  which  is  invisible  to  our  ordinary 
physical  eye.  The  world  is  indebted  to  the 
Immortal  Markandeya  for  a  description  of 
what  remains  after  this  Kalpa  dissolution. 
Blessed,  then,  with  the  finest  and  purest  Ele- 
185 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

ment-body,  he  alone  hovers  over  this  vast 
Watery  Expanse.  His  experiences  are  record- 
ed in  that  History  of  the  Universe,  the  Mahab- 
harata,  of  which  here  are  a  few  details : 

Said  Markandeya:  "O  King!  In  this  time 
of  the  Kalpa  Pralaya,  when  all  gods,  asuras, 
elements,  demons,  men,  animals,  trees  and  the 
firmament,  etc.,  all,  all  the  mobile  and  immobile 
beings  and  objects,  will  be  dissolved  into  one 
vast  ocean,  I  alone  will  hover  over  that  endless 
expanse  of  water  and  become  sad-hearted  on 
viewing  this  general  destruction.  After  float- 
ing on  it  for  a  very  long  period  of  time  I  will 
feel  extremely  exhausted.  Then,  shortly 
after,  a  huge  tree  in  the  midst  of  that  one- 
ocean  will  attract  my  eye.  O  King!  Rest- 
ing on  the  spreading  boughs  of  that  tree  I 
will  see  seated  on  a  couch  of  glory  a  lotus- 
eyed  Boy  with  a  face  radiant  like  the  light  of 
the  full  moon.  Instantly  on  seeing  him  I  shall 
be  extremely  astonished  and  will  say  within 
myself  'How  wonderful!  Everything  has 
been  destroyed,  how  then  is  this  boy  resting 
here?'  O  Great  King!  Although  I  am 
blessed  with  the  knowledge  of  the  past,  pres- 
186 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

ent  and  future,  I  shall  fail  to  know  who 
that  child  may  be. 

"Then  that  lotus-eyed  Boy  will  thus  speak 
to  me  in  the  sweetest  voice:  'O  Markandeya! 
I  know  thee.  Thous  art  become  very  weary 
and  wishing  for  rest.  Therefore  do  thou 
enter  my  body  and  live  there  as  long  as  thou 
mayest  desire.  I  have  been  very  pleased  with 
thee.'  O  King!  on  hearing  these  words  of 
the  Boy  I  will  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  in- 
difference to  my  manhood  and  long  life,  at 
which  suddenly  that  Boy  will  open  his  mouth, 
and  I  will  then  enter  into  that  mouth  through 
some  divine  means. 

"O  Great  King!  Through  his  mouth  I 
shall  enter  his  belly  and  to  my  astonishment, 
shall  see  within  him  this  whole  earth  of  many 
kingdoms  and  cities,  rivers,  mountains,  seas, 
the  blue  heavens  bedecked  with  the  sun  and 
the  moon,  and  the  many  forests.  There  I 
shall  find  Brahmans  engaged  in  various  relig- 
ious ceremonies,  the  Kshatriyas  in  ruling  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  other  castes,  the  Vaish- 
yas  in  their  usual  vocation  of  agriculture,  and 
the  Sudras  in  rendering  loving  sacrifices  to 

187 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  Brahmans ;  lions  and  tigers,  and  all  the 
gods,  angels  and  serial  beings  are  living  peace- 
fully in  their  respective  spheres.  In  fact,  all 
that  existed  before  I  shall  find  existing  within 
the  belly  of  that  Great  Soul. 

"O  King!  Thus,  having  seen  the  whole 
world  within  that  Boy,  I  will  travel  for  many 
thousand  years,  like  one  in  a  dream,  within 
that  world  and  in  trying  to  find  out  its  limit 
will  rush  in  all  directions  but  will  not  succeed 
in  doing  so.  Then  disappointment  will  turn  my 
thoughts  to  that  beautiful  Boy  again,  and, 
with  all  the  concentrated  force  in  my  bodyr 
mind  and  speech,  I  will  then  ask  for  his  pro' 
tection  and  grace.  At  this  I  will  be  carried, 
by  a  violent  wind  as  it  were,  through  hi? 
mouth  out  of  his  body  and  I  will  find  him  still 
sitting  under  that  tree. 

"The  Boy  will  then  ask  me  with  delighted 
heart  and  smiling  face,  'O  my  good  Rishi 
Markandeya!  Thou  didst  become  very  tired 
floating  on  these  waters  for  such  a  long  time. 
Have  you  now  been  well  refreshed  by  living 
within  my  body?' 

"Then  I  will  behold  my  soul  freed  from  all 

188 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

bondage  by  the  illumination  which  will  enter 
me  with  the  Boy's  words.  And  placing  his 
crimson  Feet  on  my  head  I  will  address  him 
thus  with  folded  hands  and  humility,  'How 
lucky  I  am !  To-day  I  have  beheld  the 
Lotus-eyed  God  of  Gods,  the  Soul  of  All 
Things !  O  God !  I  have  become  very 
curious  to  know  Thee  and  this  Thy  wonder- 
ful Maya  (Illusion).  Entering  Thy  belly 
through  Thy  mouth,  I  have  seen  the  whole 
world  existing  there.  O  Lord !  it  was  through 
Thy  grace  that  I  did  not  lose  my  memory,  and 
it  is  through  Thy  will  that  I  have  now  come  out 
of  Thy  body.  O  Lotus-eyed!  I  have  become 
very  desirous  to  know  Thee.  Why  art  Thou 
resting  here  in  the  form  of  a  Boy  after  hav- 
ing devoured  the  whole  world  ?  How  is  it  that 
this  whole  world  is  now  dwelling  in  Thy  body  ? 
How  much  longer  wilt  Thou  rest  here?  O 
Lord  of  Gods !  These  subjects  are  great  and 
unthinkable,  and  so  I  beg  to  hear  from  Thee 
their  detailed  explanations.' 

"The  God  of  the  Gods,  after  consoling  me, 
on  the  last  occasion,  began  to  answer  my 
questions.  He  said : 

189 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

"  'O  Brahman !  Even  the  gods  have  failed 
to  know  the  mysteries  of  my  creation.  I  will 
tell  thee  of  it  only  to  please  thee.  O  Rishi! 
Thy  wonderful  devotion  to  thy  father  and  to 
Me  and  to  spiritual  celibacy  have  won  thee 
this  grace;  I  have  appeared  before  thy  vision. 
In  time  past  I  called  water  by  the  term  "Nar" 
This  Nar  is  ever  my  seat,  hence  I  am  called 
Narayan.  I  am  the  First  Cause.  I  am 
Eternal,  Inexhaustible,  the  Creator  and  De- 
stroyer of  all  that  exists.  I  am  all  Wealth,  I 
am  Death,  I  am  Shiva.  Fire  is  in  my  mouth, 
the  earth  is  my  feet,  the  sun  is  my  two  eyes, 
the  Celestial  Regions  are  my  head,  the  sky  and 
the  cardinal  points  are  my  two  ears.  Space 
and  EterniJy  are  my  body,  the  winds  my 
mind. 

"  'All  sacred  ceremonies  are  performed  to 
please  Me.  All  the  Vedas  come  out  of  and 
enter  into  Me.  The  peace-loving,  mind- 
disciplined,  enquiring,  soul's-mystery-knowing 
Brahmans  contemplate  and  worship  Me  alone. 
I  am  the  Fire  called  Samvartak,  I  am  the 
Samvartak  Winds,  and  it  is  I  who  am  the 
Seven  Suns  that  rise  and  shine  in  Pralaya. 

190 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

The  stars  that  thou  seest  now  in  the  firmament 
are  the  pores  of  my  body,  the  sky  is  my  rai- 
ment, the  seas  my  seat  and  abode.  It  is  I 
who  have  divided  them  as  they  are. 

"  'Men  are  born,  are  overwhelmed  by  My 
Maya  and  become  enterprising  through  my 
Law,  never  through  their  own  desire.  Those 
Brahmans  who  thoroughly  study  the  Vedas, 
perform  many  spiritual  sacrifices,  bring  peace 
to  their  souls  and  vanquish  anger;  it  is  they 
who  attain  to  Me.  Those  persons  who  are 
addicted  to  bad  actions,  are  swayed  by  greed, 
are  misers,  crooked-minded  and  void  of 
soul-culture  can  never  reach  Me.  The  paths 
of  Yoga  are  as  easy  for  pure  souls  to  tread 
as  they  are  uncertain  to  the  wicked  and  the 
foolish. 

"  'Whenever  religion  suffers  from  revolu- 
tion and  vice  triumphs  over  virtue,  I  create 
myself  and  walk  the  earth  and  set  things 
right.  Whenever  are  born  on  the  earth  the 
selfish  and  envious  Asuras  and  Demons  so 
powerful  that  even  the  gods  cannot  destroy 
them,  I  in  the  form  of  man  take  birth  in  the 
family  of  pious  men  and  bring  peace  to  the 
191 


SREE  KRISHNA, 

world  again  by  subduing-  them.  I  am  white- 
complexioned  in  the  Satya  Yuga,  yellow  in 
the  Treta,  red  in  the  Dwapar  and  dark  in  the 
Kali.  At  the  end  of  each  great  cycle  it  is  I 
who  destroy  every  thing.  I  am  the  Three 
Paths,  the  Soul  of  the  Universe,  Giver 
of  all  Happiness,  Superior  to  All,  All-Per- 
vading, the  Endless  and  the  All-Powerful. 

"  'At  the  last  Kali  Yuga  of  each  Kalpa  I 
spread  my  illusion  upon  all  beings  and  enter 
into  my  trance-state.  When  old,  old  Brahma, 
transformed  into  a  child,  goes  to  sleep  and 
keeps  sleeping,  I  rest  here  on  the  waters  until 
he  is  awakened.  Now,  go  thou  about  on  the 
waters  in  restful  spirit  until  that  time,  when 
I  alone  will  create  again  earth  and  sky  and 
light,  air  and  water,  and  all  bodies.' 

"So  saying,  O  King,  that  wonderful  Being 
vanished  from  my  view.  Then  by  and  by  this 
world  was  created  again.  Thus  in  the  last 
Kalpa  Pralaya  did  I  witness  this  wonderful 
event.  The  Lotus-Eyed  Diety  I  then  saw, 
you  brothers  have  now  established  blood  rela- 
tions with  Him,  this  Krishna.  It  is  through 
His  grace  that  I  have  obtained  uninterrupted 

192 


THE  KALPA  CYCLE. 

memory,  become  so  long-lived  and  endowed 
with  the  boon  of  dying  at  my  will.  This 
Krishna  who  is  now  sitting  before  us  all", 
this  Krishna  present  here,  who  is  born  in  the 
line  of  the  Vrishnis,  is  just  now  merely  playing 
on  His  earth.  But  it  is  He,  this  Krishna, 
who  is  the  Ancient  Person,  the  Lord,  the 
Unthinkable  Soul,  the  Creator,  the  Destroyer, 
the  Eternal  and  the  Master  of  All!  I  have 
been  able  to  remember  all  these  facts  only 
through  the  inspiration  of  His  presence  here. 
He  is  the  Mother  and  Father  of  all  beings : 
do  you  all  take  His  Refuge." 

Krishna  has  been  called  Narayan  here  by 
Markandeya,  because  Narayan,  the  Fourth 
Form-manifestation  of  Krishna  in  the  unfold- 
ment  of  creation,  is  generally  known  as  the 
Supreme  Diety — Krishna.  Narayan,  as  I 
have  said  before  this,  is  Aniruddha  out  of 
whose  navel  springs  the  seed-bud  Lotus  with 
Brahma,  the  operating  Creator  of  the  details 
of  Creation. 


193 


SECTION  XIII. 

NATURAL  DISSOLUTION. 

WHAT  is  popularly  known  as  Universal  De- 
struction, is  termed  in  the  Hindoo  Scriptures 
"Prakritic  Pratisanchar"  or  Natural  Retro- 
gression, which  means  Natural  Disssolution. 
This  marks  the  close  of  the  Greatest  Cycle  of 
Time.  It  is  the  End  of  Time,  the  End  of 
Creation.  It  is  the  Maha  Pralaya.  It  in- 
volves the  annihilation  of  the  Universe,  in  one 
sense,  because  after  its  occurrence  none  of  the 
Principles,  except  the  Ultimate,  exists.  "In 
one  sense"  I  say  advisedly,  for  although  the 
Manifest  universe  becomes  non-existent,  its 
latent  spiritual  impressions,  forming  its  germ, 
are  carried  by  the  Three  Cardinal  Attributes 
into  the  Ultimate  Principle,  Love — Krishna — 
and  preserved  unconsciously,  even  during  their 
rest  in  Krishna,  in  a  state  of  equilibrium.  It 
is  out  of  this  Mystic  Ideation  that,  in  the 
event  of  the  inequilibrium  of  the  Attributes, 
a  fresh  creation  springs  into  existence.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  destruction  in  the  law  of 

194 


NATURAL  DISSOLUTION. 


Nature.  Nothing  is  destroyed  totally;  all 
forms  of  destruction  are  but  phases  of  trans- 
mutation, from  gross  manifestation  into  fine, 
from  fine  into  finer,  from  finer  into  finest, 
from  finest  into  mystic  ideation  which  belongs 
to  the  realm  of  absolute  spirituality. 

The  Hindoo  docTfifreTn  Tegard~to-the  "pro- 
cess of  creation  is  the  unfoldment  of  the 
Twenty-three  Principles  from  the  reflection 
of  the  One,  the  manifestation  into  Many  and 
the  Diverse  of  the  Mystic  Energy  of  the  One 
Unchangeable  Absolute.  This  Mystic  Energy 
unrolls  its  many  and  diverse  phases  and  forces 
in  creation  and  incessantly  throughout  its 
duration.  "Prakritic"  means  "Natural"  from 
"Prakriti,"  Nature.  "Pratisanchar"  is  "Prati" 
and  "sanchar";  "Prati"  means  backward,  and 
"sanchar"  means  the  act  of  moving,  motion. 
The  whole  word  therefore  means  "moving 
backward."  Prakritic  Pratisanchar,  therefore, 
is  the  moving  backward  of  the  Unfolded 
Principles  of  Existence  (Nature)  into  its  One 
Source,  out  of  which  they  originally  spring. 
This  backward  motion  of  Variety  into  Unity 
is  caused  by  the  extreme  action  of  intense 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

Tama  from  which  the  following  natural  re- 
action puts  the  forces  of  the  Three  Cardinal 
Attributes  into  equilibrium.  This  equilibrium 
is  the  Unmanifest  (Avyakta — unexpressed) 
state  of  Nature,  and  the  inequilibrium  brings 
about  the  Manifest  state,  the  gross  form  of 
which  is  the  universe.  This  action  of  Nat- 
ural Dissolution  has  also  its  reaction.  It  re- 
acts into  a  fresh  Creation. 

The  symptoms  which  manifest  themselves 
previous  to  the  occurrence  of  this  universal  de- 
struction are  almost  the  same  as  those  before 
the  Kalpa  Pralaya.  Only,  the  degeneration 
of  human  society  develops  worse  phases  which 
are  followed  by  intense  heat,  owing  to  the 
suspension  of  rains  for  years  and  years  to- 
gether, resulting  in  the  death  of  all  moving 
and  breathing  beings.  Then  appear  in  the 
heavens  twelve  suns,  instead  of  seven  as  in 
the  Kalpa  Pralaya,  which  give  birth  to  the 
Samvartak  Fire.  The  fire  is  followed  by  the 
appearance  of  the  Samvartak  Clouds,  which 
deluge  the  earth  with  continuous  rains  for 
years ;  the  deluge  is  followed  by  the  winds, 
etc. 

196 


NATURAL  DISSOLUTION. 

But  the  main  difference  lies  in  the  absolutely 
destructive  power  of  these  Elemental  agents. 
When  the  suns  and  the  fire  have  done  their 
work,  the  black  surface  of  the  earth  looks  like 
the  back  of  a  tortoise.  Then  the  water  in 
which  it  is  submerged  absorbs  the  very  attri- 
bute of  Earth — Smell — along  with  its  sub- 
stance which  then  becomes  absolutely  non- 
existent and  transformed  into  water.  The 
water  is  then  absorbed  by  Fire  (heat)  with  its 
attribute — Taste — so  that  water  becomes  abso- 
lutely non-existent  and  is  turned  into  Fire. 
The  volume  of  Fire  is  then  so  increased  that 
it  burns  the  suns  themselves,  so  that  all  the 
heavens,  filled  with  all-pervading  flames,  burn 
on  until  everything  in  them  is  destroyed.  Then 
the  air  devours  the  Fire  with  its  attribute — 
Form — so  that  there  remains  nothing  visible 
to  the  eye.  The  winds  then  move  about  with 
all  their  force  in  the  Akas.  Then  Akas 
(Ether)  absorbs  the  Air  with  its  attribute — 
Touch — so  that  nothing  remains  which  can 
be  felt.  Then  Akas  itself  becomes  unmani- 
fest,  the  Universal  Mind  having  absorbed  its 
attribute — Sound — which  originally  sprang 

197 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

from  it  to  create  Akas  (Ether).  This  is 
called  the  dissolution  of  the  gross  form  of  the 
Universe. 

The  dissolution  of  the  fine  (subtle)  form 
begins  with  the  Moon,  the  presiding  deity  of 
the  Mind,  absorbing  the  Mind  with  its  attribute 
— the  power  of  Willing  and  Non-Willing, 
which,  power  with  all  its  associations  is  then 
centered  in  the  Moon.  After  a  long  time  the 
Mind,  centralized  in  the  Moon,  brings  about 
the  poise  in  its  vibratory  volition  (the  cause 
of  material  desires).  This  will-control  re- 
sults in  the  Moon-centered  Mind  being  ab- 
sorbed by  its  original  Belief  in  the  Oneness 
of  Nature  and  Brahm  (Divine  Esssence). 
The  Belief  in  this  Unity  (Ego)  is  then  ab- 
sorbed by  Universal  Consciousness,  and  Uni- 
versal Consciousness  with  its  attribute  of  the 
Power  of  Decision,  is  absorbed  by  Absolute 
Being  (one  of  the  Three  Attributes  of  Para- 
Brahm).  Then  Wisdom  (another  of  the 
Three  Attributes,  also  called  Intelligence  or 
Truth)  absorbs  this  Absolute  Being.  Then 
that  all-impregnated  Wisdom  enters  the  Un- 
manifest  Soul — Absolute  Love — KRISHNA. 

198 


SECTION  XIV. 

MODERN    SCIENTIFIC    TESTIMONY. 

A  RECENT  discovery  of  modern  science  has 
not  only  thrown  the  clearest  light  upon  this 
Hindoo  doctrine  of  the  unity  and  composition 
of  the  universe,  but  has  fully  proved  its  cor- 
rectness. This  is  the  first  indirect  investiga- 
tion of  Western  material  science  into  the  realm 
of  the  subjective  side  of  creation.  The  autfior 
of  this  discovery,  by  strange  irony  of  Fate,  is 

a   Hindoo,   though   educated   and   trained   in 

_ • 

scientific  knowledge  in  England,  under  Eng- 
lish teachers  of  Science.  He  is  now  a  scien- 
tific celebrity  among  Western  scientific  celeb- 
rities of  the  day;  and  if  the  work  of  his 
tested  discovery  be  rightly  estimated,  he  ought 
to  be  classed  with  the  highest  of  them  all. 
His  name  is  Professor  Jagadis  Chunder  Bose, 
D.  Sc.,  Professor  of  Science  in  the  Calcutta 
University. 

Prof.  Bose's  discovery,  now  embodied  in 
book-form  and  entitled  "Response  in  tfie  Liv- 
ing and  the  Non-Living,"  marks  a  new  epoch 

199 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

in  the  advancement  of  modern  science.  It  has 
been  accepted  by  all  scientific  authorities,  after 
the  Professor  had  demonstrated  it  by  experi- 
ments before  a  large  number  of  scientific  peo- 
ple in  London,  and  notably  by  Lord  Kelvin. 

Armed  with  the  demonstrated  facts  of  this 
discovery,  Professor  Bose  maintains  that  the 
true  test  of  the  existence  of  life  in  any  form 
of  matter  is  its  sensitiveness  to  external  stimu- 
lus. According  to  this  test  he  proves  conclu- 
sively that  no  essential  difference  exists  be- 
tween animals  and  metals  or  vegetables.  He 
has  shown  by  scientific  experiments  that  a  bar 
of  iron  is  not  only  as  irritable  and  sensitive 
as  a  human  body,  but  that  it  can  be  killed  or 
poisoned  in  the  same  way  as  a  human  body 
can  be  killed  or  poisoned.  According  to  his 
discovery,  life  pervades  every  object  and  part 
of  Nature ;  and  only  some  of  these  parts  or  ob- 
jects can  be  said  to  be  in  a  dead  state,  which 
means  they  can  be  deprived  of  their  sensi- 
tiveness to  external  stimulus. 

If  any  part  of  our  body  is  pinched,  the  nerve 
which  connects  that  part  with  the  brain,  run- 
ning all  along,  sends  an  electric  current  to  the 
200 


MODERN  SCIENTIFIC  TESTIMONY. 

brain,  vibrating  under  the  pinch.  The  brain 
alone  feels  the  pain  inflicted  upon  any  part  of 
our  body,  says  modern  science ;  and  it  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  no  pain  is  felt  by  us  if  our 
brain  is  deadened  by  chloroform. 

The  galvanometer  is  a  well-known  and  very 
delicate  scientific  instrument  for  detecting  the 
presence  of  electric  currents;  it  has  a  needle 
on  a  pivot,  and  the  faintest  electric  current 
will  cause  a  deflection  of  this  needle.  If  at  any 
intervening  part  of  the  electric  current-bearing 
nerve  in  the  human  body  the  galvanometer  be 
attached,  and  the  end  of  the  nerve  pinched  or 
otherwise  irritated,  then  immediately  the  needle 
of  the  galvanometer  will  deflect,  thus  showing 
that  the  irritation  of  the  nerve  causes  a  cur- 
rent like  that  of  electricity  to  be  sent  along 
it.  This  fact  is  now  very  well  known  to  scien- 
tists, and  Prof.  Bose's  investigations  are  based 
upon  this  well-known  scientific  fact. 

With  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether  or  not 
matter  which  has  hitherto  been  known  as  non- 
living could  be  proved  so  under  the  test  of  the 
galvanometer,  the  Professor  attached  the  in- 
strument to  bars  of  different  metals,  with 
201 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

startling  contrary  results.  The  Professor 
found  that  all  metals  show  visible  signs  of 
sensitiveness  when  twisted  or  tapped.  The 
greater  the  irritation  the  greater  the  visible 
signs  of  sensitiveness;  even  every  single  pe- 
culiarity in  the  irritability  of  animal  matter  is 
exactly  reproduced  in  the  case  of  metal.  As, 
for  instance,  when  the  sensitiveness  of  a  mus- 
cle or  a  nerve  of  an  animal  wears  off  after 
a  time,  under  repeated  irritation,  it  begins 
to  show  signs  of  fatigue,  the  deflection  of  the 
needle  of  the  galvanometer  becoming  more 
and  more  feeble;  the  Professor  found  that 
metals  would  betray  exactly  the  same  signs  of 
fatigue  under  repeated  irritation.  Again,  after 
a  short  rest,  the  signs  of  fatigue  were  found 
to  disappear  in  animal  muscle  and  in  metal 
alike,  their  sensitiveness  being  fully  restored. 
This  last  fact  is  known  to  many  of  us  who 
constantly  use  a  razor  and  find  it  losing  its 
keen  edge  and  growing  duller  and  duller,  de- 
spite vigorous  stropping,  and  spontaneously 
recovering  its  original  keenness  by  being  laid 
aside  for  a  few  days. 

Professor  Bose's  process  of  registering  the 

202 


MODERN  SCIENTIFIC  TESTIMONY. 

deflections  of  the  needle  of  the  galvanometer 
is  this:  By  a  mechanical  device  the  point  of 
the  needle  is  photographed  on  paper,  which  is 
moved  along  at  a  constant  rate,  the  needle's 
point  tracing  out  a  series  of  zig-zag  lines  on 
the  paper,  when  the  needle  is  oscillated  by  an 
electric  current.  The  width  of  the  zig-zags 
corresponds  to  the  amount  of  the  deflection  of 
the  needle,  therefore  the  strength  of  the  elec- 
tric current.  If  there  be  no  current,  and  con- 
sequently no  deflection  of  the  needle,  its  point 
will  remain  stationary  and  merely  trace  a 
straight  line  on  the  moving  paper. 

This  book  of  Prof.  Bose's,  "Response  in  the 
Living  and  the  Non-Living,"  is  full  of  still 
more  wonderful  revelations.  He  has  found  and 
shown,  to  the  satisfaction  of  European  scien- 
tists through  experiments,  that  metals  do  not 
only  go  to  sleep,  but  can  be  poisoned  and 
killed  like  human  beings  and  animals.  Like  an 
unused  animal  muscle  showing  signs  of  slug- 
gishness and  appearing  to  be  in  a  kind  of  tor- 
por, then  gradually  seeming  to  waken  up  un- 
der irritation,  and  finally  returning  to  full  ac- 
tivity, Professor  Bose  proves  that  metals  be- 

203 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

have  in  exactly  the  same  way  and  process  of 
gradation.  He  also  proves  that  the  effects  of 
extreme  cold  and  extreme  heat  produce  ex- 
actly similar  conditions  in  both  animals  and 
metals. 

But  men  or  animals  can  be  drugged  and 
made  drunk.  Can  metals  likewise  be  drugged 
and  made  drunk?  Yes,  says  Prof.  Bose,  and 
he  proves  it  absolutely.  He  proves  that  met- 
als show  the  same  increase  of  irritability  un- 
der the  influence  of  stimulants  and  narcotics 
as  the  human  body.  Moreover,  even  as  differ- 
ent animals  are  affected  differently  by  the 
same  dose  of  a  stimulant,  so  also  are  different 
metals.  Under  the  influence  of  carbonate  of 
sodium,  irritability  of  platinum  is  increased 
threefold,  while  the  irritability  of  tin  is  less. 

Still  more  significant  is  the  action  of  anaes- 
thetics and  narcotics.  Under  their  action  the 
sensitiveness  of  metals  can  be  reduced  to  any 
desired  degree,  exactly  as  is  the  case  of  human 
beings.  A  more  striking  parallel  between  ani- 
mal matter  and  metals  is  established  by  Prof. 
Bose.  The  action  of  some  narcotics  on  the 
human  frame  is  known  to  be  paradoxical  un- 
204 


MODERN  SCIENTIFIC  TESTIMONY. 

der  certain  conditions.  While  a  large  dose  of 
opium,  for  instance,  decreases  the  sensitiveness 
of  the  human  body,  a  very  minute  dose  has 
exactly  the  opposite  effect,  that  is  to  say,  acts 
as  a  stimulant.  This  anomaly  has  been  found 
by  Prof.  Bose  to  have  a  parallel  in  metals,  tin 
being  found  to  show  that  its  sensitiveness  is 
increased  half  as  much  again  by  being  treated 
with  a  minute  dose  of  potash  (3  parts  in  100), 
but  the  sensitiveness  begins  to  decrease  when 
the  dose  is  increased. 

Now  the  question  suggests  itself  that  if 
metals  are  as  much  alive  as  animals,  then  they 
must  also  be  as  liable  to  die  as  animals.  Prof. 
Bose  has  found  this  to  be  a  fact,  too.  Metals 
not  only  die;  but  they  can  be  poisoned  and 
revived,  and  poisoned  and  killed. 

In  order  to  find  out  these  facts,  Prof.  Bose 
took  a  piece  of  metal  which  showed  full  vigor 
of  sensitiveness  and  so  was  considered  healthy, 
and  treated  it  with  a  moderate  dose  of  oxalic 
acid,  which  is  a  powerful  poison.  The  needle 
of  the  galvanometer  instantly  indicated  a  spas- 
modic flutter;  the  sensitiveness  of  the  metal 
grew  more  and  more  feeble,  till  it  seemed  al- 
205 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

most  to  die  away.  At  this  stage,  a  powerful 
antidote  being  applied,  slowly  and  gradually 
the  sensitiveness  began  to  revive,  and  in  time 
became  as  active  as  when  the  metal  was  not 
poisoned.  The  treatment  of  another  piece  of 
healthy  metal  with  a  strong  dose  of  the  same 
poison  resulted  in  violent  spasms,  with  rapid 
enfeeblement  of  sensitiveness,  which  soon  van- 
ished altogether.  After  a  proper  interval  the 
antidote  was  tried  in  vain;  the  piece  of  metal 
was  killed  forever.  The  results  of  experiments 
with  different  metals  and  different  poisons 
were  the  same ;  but  all  poisons  not  being  alike 
in  their  action  upon  animal  matter,  the  same 
is  true  of  their  action  on  metal,  absolutely  and 
undoubtedly.  In  some  cases,  however,  after 
all  traces  of  poison  had  been  removed  by  the 
counteracting1  influence  of  stimulating  acids, 
the  poisoned  metal  was  eventually  reanimated ; 
which  meant  that  the  metal  was  not  really 
killed,  but  was  merely  in  a  state  of  suspended 
animation.  The  most  striking  feature  of  the 
discovery  in  this  connection  is,  that  the  very 
poison  which  kills  both  animal  and  metal  is 
itself  endowed  with  life,  which  shows  itself  by 
206 


MODERN  SCIENTIFIC  TESTIMONY. 

indications  of  irritability  and  sensitiveness,  and 
which  can  itself  be  killed. 

Here  is  another  significant  point  in  regard 
to  the  operation  of  poison  on  both  an  animal 
and  a  metal.  In  the  case  of  an  animal  the 
operation  is  twofold;  first,  the  actual  death 
process,  lasting  from  a  few  minutes  to  several 
hours;  secondly,  the  purely  nervous  effect 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  form  of  spasms, 
paralysis  or  other  symptoms,  and  which  is  de- 
veloped much  sooner,  sometimes  instantane- 
ously. Prof.  Bose  has  discovered  the  same 
phenomenon  in  metal.  Under  the  effect  of 
some  powerful  poisons  there  was  instantaneous 
spasm  shooting  through  the  metal  long  before 
the  corrosive  action  of  the  acid  could  pene- 
trate beyond  the  surface. 

Professor  Bose  has  proved  in  his  book  that 
all  these  phenomena  with  every  single  variation 
exist  as  much  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  as  In 
the  animal  and  mineral.  Indeed,  the  three 
kingdoms  of  matter,  the  animal,  the  vegetable 
and  the  mineral,  are,  says  the  Professor,  but 
one  in  essence  and  the  physiological  distinction 
between  so-called  organic  and  inorganic  mat- 

207 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

ter,  of  which  man  and  metal  are  but  types, 
is  based  upon  a  false  and  unscientific  assump1 
tion.  Prof.  Bose  dedicates  his  book  to  his 
countrymen,  the  Hindoos,  because,  he  says,  his 
discovery  is  a  discovery  made  millions  of  years 
ago  by  the  Hindoo  sages,  who  proclaimed  the 
unity  of  the  universe  in  essence  and  construc- 
tion, as  well  as  in  the  laws  that  govern  it. 


208 


SECTION  XV. 

SCIENCE  UPHOLDS  SHASTRAS. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  main  points  of  this 
great  epoch-making  scientific  discovery  by  the 
light  of  the  truths  of  Nature  and  the  laws  of 
matter  discovered  countless  ages  ago  by  the 
illuminated  sages  of  India,  and  handed  down 
through  the  corridors  of  time.  Every  discov- 
ery of  modern  science  has  tended  to  establish 
the  principles  of  Hindoo  religion  and  philos- 
ophy, by  furnishing  practical  testimony  to 
what  were  so  long  considered  as  their  mystic 
teachings.  But  this  discovery  of  Prof.  Bose's 
is  an  unexpected  stumble  of  a  purely  ob- 
jective method  of  investigation  upon  the 
truths  and  laws  of  the  subjective  realm.  The 
evidence  which  Prof.  Bose's  experiments  af- 
ford is  of  course  indirect;  but  this  indirect 
evidence  is  startlingly  direct  in  its  pointed  and 
unmistakable  suggestions.  It  is  therefore  most 
opportune  at  the  present  moment,  when'  the 
human  mind  the  world  over  is  striving,  im- 
pelled by  a  natural  hunger,  to  get  at  the  facts 

209 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

back  of  the  physical  shroud  of  the  universe. 
The  Hindoo  sages  say  that  the  universe  is 
one  whole,  huge  being,  of  which  the  high 
heavens  are  the  head,  the  sun  and  the  moon 
the  eyes,  space  the  body,  and  the  earth  the 
feet.  Every  inch,  nay,  every  point,  of  this 
universe-body  is  alive  as  a  healthy  human 
body.  The  composing  principles  of  this  body 
are  twenty-four,  as  I  have  already  explained. 
These  twenty-four  principles  are  therefore 
present  in  every  atom  of  it,  in  every  speck  of 
earth,  the  last  principle  in  creation.  This  speck 
or  molecule  of  earth  has,  however,  no  opening 
for  any  of  its  composing  principles;  whereas 
vegetable  and  animal  life-forms  have  many  of 
these  passages  of  their  composing  principles 
more  or  less  open.  As  a  tortoise  puts  forth 
its  body  out  of  its  shell  and  again  draws  that 
body  into  it,  so  out  of  Love  the  twenty-three 
principles  are  projected,  and  drawn,  in  the 
fullness  of  time,  back  into  its  bosom  again. 
This  reaction  or  journey  of  the  universe  back 
to  its  source  is  called  universal  destruction, 
or  dissolution,  or  disintegration.  This  uni- 
versal dissolution  takes  place  when  the 
210 


SCIENCE  UPHOLDS  SHASTRAS. 

Three  Cardinal  Attributes  of  creation,  out  of 
which  all  the  composing  principles  have 
sprung,  fall  into  equilibrium;  in  other  words, 
become  equal  in  power  or  tension.  This  loss 
of  tensity  or  equipoise  in  the  power  of  the 
Cardinal  Attributes,  viz.,  Sattwa  (Illumina- 
tion), Raja  (Activity  or  Motion),  and  Tama 
(Obscuration),  results  in  the  loss  of  their  in- 
dividuality, and  their  transformation  into  Pure 
Illumination.  By  pure  illumination  is  meant 
unmixed  illumination;  that  is  to  say,  absolute 
illumination,  having  no  tendency  or  trace  in 
it  of  being  disturbed  into  obscuration.  In 
short,  Sattwa,  Raja  and  Tama  are  each  of  them 
mixed  with  the  other  two,  its  own  quality  being 
predominant  in  it.  Their  inequality  of  power 
brings  them  forth  into  and  sustains  their  being. 
The  moment  this  power  becomes  equal  and 
they  lose  their  existence,  the  Absolute  Illu- 
mination, co-existent  with  Absolute  Love  and 
Absolute  Being  out  of  which  they  sprung, 
alone  remains. 

This  equipoise  of  the  cardinal  cosmic  attri- 
butes takes  place  at  intervals  of  time,  the  di- 
mension of  which  staggers  the  human  mind  to 

211 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

imagine.  But  while  the  return-journey  of  the 
universe  as  a  whole  takes  place  once  in  an  in- 
definitely long  period  of  time,  the  molecules 
of  earth,  as  soon  as  they  are  created,  have 
a  tendency  to  go  back  to  their  original  source. 
But  the  molecule's  journey  backward  to  Love 
is  made  by  a  very  circuitous  path.  That  path 
leads  through  the  process  of  opening  one  by 
one  the  passages  of  its  composing  principles. 
By  passages  is  meant  channels  of  communica- 
tion and  sympathy  with  the  main  laws  and 
vibrations  of  the  working  of  the  universe. 

The  first  step  the  molecule  takes,  in  this 
return- journey,  is  by  opening  the  passage  of 
one  principle,  the  sense  of  feeling,  and  becom- 
ing a  blade  of  grass.  A  blade  of  grass  has 
only  one  sense  opened,  the  sense  of  touch,  by 
which  it  draws  juice  from  the  earth  for  its 
sustenance.  After  being  reborn  thousands  of 
times  as  a  blade  of  grass,  it  draws  the  mag- 
netism from  the  different  life-forms  in  Nature, 
which  helps  it  to  develop  into  a  shrub.  And 
then,  after  thousands  of  shrub-lives,  it  deve- 
lops into  a  plant,  and  then  into  tree-life,  in 
which  it  puts  forth  flowers  and  fruits.  And, 

212 


SCIENCE  UPHOLDS  SHASTRAS. 

finally,  drawing  in  more  and  more  magnetism 
and  vibrations  from  the  animal  world,  it  de- 
velops into  an  animal  itself.  At  first  it  is  but 
an  animalcule,  and  then  a  worm.  As  a  worm 
it  has  opened  more  passages,  the  passage  of 
tasting  (the  palate),  the  passage  of  gripping 
(with  the  mouth),  the  passage  of  moving  (the 
feet),  the  passages  of  excreting  and  generat- 
ing, the  passage  of  seeing  (the  eye),  the  pass- 
age of  smelling,  the  passage  of  hearing,  etc. 
Through  thousands  of  rebirths  in  each  animal 
form  it  is  promoted  into  higher  and  higher 
animal  forms,  in  which  more  and  more  pass- 
ages of  its  composing  principles  are  opened. 
The  last  forms  of  lower  animals  it  takes  are 
those  of  monkeys  and  apes,  the  forms  just 
before  developing  into  human  form.  In  these 
ape  forms  of  life  it  opens  all  principles  except 
four;  viz.,  Mind,  Ego,  Intellect  and  Love. 
However  intelligent  a  monkey  or  a  dog  or  any 
other  animal  may  be  or  seem  to  be,  the  Mind 
principle  is  not  yet  open  in  it.  All  its  actions 
are  prompted  by  instinct,  which  is  the  natural 
impulse  of  the  indirect  influence  of  the  mind 
on  the  verge  of  being  opened,  as  well  as  of 

213 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

automatic  memory  of  past  experiences  in  this 
and  previous  existences,  the  impressions  of 
which  are  in  their  very  blood.  With  the  open- 
ing of  the  Mind  principle  begins  the  human 
form.  It  may  be  the  most  savage  man,  but  it 
is  human.  He  can  think,  is  self-conscious,  and 
acts  with  reasoned  decision,  however  crude  or 
erroneous ;  because  with  the  opening  of  the 
Mind  there  are  simultaneously  opened  the  Ego 
and  the  Intellect,  they  being  almost  one  prin- 
ciple in  three. 

After  these  explanations  of  the  composition, 
construction,  and  transformation  of  matter,  let 
us  go  back  to  unopened  matter,  in  order  to 
explain  the  mysteries  of  Professor  Bose's  dis- 
coveries by  the  aid  of  the  galvanometer.  The 
Professor  has  discovered  that  the  application 
of  this  delicate  instrument  reveals  the  fact  that 
matter  which  has  hitherto  been  considered  non- 
living is  very  much  alive  indeed,  as  fully  alive 
as  living  animals  are,  because  they  respond  to 
external  stimulus  as  fully  as  any  living  being. 
According  to  Hindoo  definition  and  idea  of 
construction  and  composition  of  matter,  it  is 
only  natural  that  this  should  be  so.  To  the 

214 


SCIENCE  UPHOLDS  SHASTRAS. 

iiindoo  sage  this  is  not  at  all  a  wonder.  Love, 
Consciousness,  Ego,  Mind,  the  ten  senses,  the 
five  fine  essences  and  the  five  gross  forms  of 
matter,  called  elements,  are  as  much  present 
in  minerals,  which  are  but  formations  of  earth, 
as  in  animals.  A  lump  of  earth,  or  a  piece 
of  metal,  or  a  vegetable,  cannot  give  visible, 
direct  response  to  external  stimulus,  because 
they  have  no  openings  (open  physical  organs) 
through  which  to  manifest  it.  If  you  can  by 
any  means  feel  the  vibrations  caused  by  such 
stimulus  within  them,  then  only  can  you  find 
the  proof  of  the  uniform  composition  and  con- 
struction of  all  forms  of  matter  in  this  one 
whole  living  universe.  The  galvanometer 
serves  this  purpose,  and  hence  the  Hindoo  idea 
stands  to-day  as  a  demonstrated  fact. 

Let  us  analyze  the  tests  and  proofs  of  the 
galvanometer  a  little  more  closely,  and  under- 
stand them  according  to  the  Hindoo  doctrine 
of  the  construction  and  organization  of  what 
is  called  organic  or  inorganic  matter.  The 
Hindoo  doctrine  does  not  recognize  the  nerve 
or  the  brain  as  any  of  the  principles  which 
compose  what  is  called  the  living  body.  The 

215 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

nerve  is  but  a  mere  physical  vehicle  of  the  sen- 
sation of  the  mind  (which  includes  the  Ego 
and  the  Intellect,  the  part  of  universal  con- 
sciousness in  individual  souls),  and  the  brain 
is  the  physical  centre  of  these  physical  chan- 
nels of  the  mind's  sensation  and  experiences. 
The  mind  feels  the  sensation  of  the  external 
stimulus  through  its  channels,  the  five  cog- 
nizing senses,  and  the  mind's  sensations  are 
carried  through  the  nerves  to  the  brain.  This 
is  in  regard  to  animal  life,  which  has  brains 
and  nerves  formed  fully  or  partially.  The 
vegetables  and  minerals  have  neither  brains 
nor  nerves.  How,  then,  do  they  show  the 
same  irritation  as  animals  do  to  external  stim- 
ulus, as  shown  by  the  galvanometer? 

The  answer  is  simple.  Because  they  Have 
the  psychic  vehicles,  the  five  cognizing  senses, 
by  which  to  convey  the  sensation  of  the  ex- 
ternal stimulus  to  the  mind,  and  therefore  they 
need  no  physical  brain  or  nerve.  Only,  having 
no  physical  openings,  they  cannot  manifest 
the  effect  of  those  sensations  outside  them- 
selves, as  animals  do;  and  only  an  instrument, 
like  the  galvanometer,  is  able  to  detect  the 

216 


SCIENCE  UPHOLDS  SUASTRAS. 

sensations  and  indicate  them  by  the  deflection 
of  its  needle.  Mineral  and  vegetable  matter 
having  all  the  twenty-four  principles  in 
them,  have  the  mind  and  the  senses,  too. 
Only,  they  are  in  a  shut-up,  undeveloped  state, 
and  perform  their  undeveloped,  crude  func- 
tions like  an  unconscious  mechanism. 

It  is  through  the  senses  that  sensations  are 
perceived ;  and  had  not  the  senses  been  pres- 
ent within  a  piece  of  metal  or  a  vegetable, 
there  would  be  no  sensation  in  it,  and  there- 
fore the  galvanometer  would  have  been  useless 
in  its  application  and  results,  because,  there 
being  no  sensation,  there  would  be  no  deflec- 
tion of  the  needle.  Professor  Bose's  experi- 
ments conclusively  prove  not  only  the  unity, 
but  the  uniform  composition  and  con- 
struction of  the  whole  universe ;  that  all 
its  composing  principles  are  present  every- 
where; that  in  some  phases  they  are  in  a 
latent  and  in  others  in  manifest  state.  The 
tests  of  the  galvanometer  also  prove  that  what 
is  true  of  the  whole  universe  is  true  of  a  par- 
ticle of  earth ;  that  the  whole  universe  is  one 
whole  living  mass,  like  a  single  living  being, 

217 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

and  that  every  molecule  of  its  composition  is  a 
universe  in  embryo ;  because  every  molecule  is 
instinct  with  all  the  forces  and  properties  of 
the  twenty-four  principles,  which  are  the  ma- 
terials as  well  as  the  attributes  of  the  cosmos. 


218 


SECTION  XVI. 

PHYSICAL  AND  ASTRAL  BODIES. 

IT  is  the  ignorance  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
constitution  of  the  universal  and  human  bodies 
that  forms  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  of  a  cor- 
rect study  of  the  laws  operating  behind  exter- 
nal Nature.  It  is  the  general  belief  of  modern 
humanity  that  the  human  body  is  made  up  of 
flesh  and  blood  alone.  This  is  true  so  far  as 
the  physical  body  is  concerned.  But  there  is 
another  body  within  us  finer  than  the  physical 
which  is  the  real  body  and  of  which  the  physi- 
cal body  is  the  outer  encasement.  This  real 
body  is  called  the  Astral  Body.  The  whole 
human  body  is  like  a  clock  of  which  the  physi- 
cal covering  is  its  case  and  the  astral  body  its 
works.  As  the  mechanical  part  of  a  clock  is 
the  real  clock  and  its  case  with  its  dial  and 
hands  forms  its  covering  by  which  it  indicates 
its  working,  so  the  astral  body  is  the  mechani- 
cal part  of  the  human  body  and  the  physical 
body  is  its  case  through  which  it  indicates  its 

219 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

operations.  Though  far  from  perfect,  the 
analogy  is  very  suggestive.  For  instance,  the 
mechanical  part  of  the  clock  cannot  serve  its 
purpose  without  the  aid  of  the  case,  dial  and 
hands.  The  astral  body  likewise  cannot  be  of 
any  use  without  the  co-operation  of  the  physi- 
cal body. 

The  mechanism  of  the  astral  body  is  com- 
posed of  eighteen  Principles,  viz.,  Conscious- 
ness (Intellect),  Ego,  Mind,  the  Ten  Senses: 
the  Powers  of  Seeing,  Hearing,  Smelling, 
Tasting,  Feeling,  Speaking,  Holding,  Moving, 
Excreting  and  Generating;  and  the  five  attri- 
butes of  the  Elements :  Sound,  Touch,  Form, 
Taste  and  Smell.  These  Principles  work 
through  their  counterpart-organs  of  the  physi- 
cal body  which  is  composed  of  the  five  remain- 
ing Principles,  viz.,  the  Five  Elements — Ether, 
Air,  Fire,  Water  and  Earth. 

Now  let  us  see  how  the  physical  body  is 
composed  of  the  five  Elements.  The  vigor 
of  our  father  and  the  blood  of  our  mother, 
of  which  our  physical  body  is  made,  are  for- 
mations of  assimilated  food.  Every  kind  of 
foodstuff,  vegetable  or  animal,  is  but  con- 

220 


PHYSICAL  AND  ASTRAL  BODIES. 

densed  form  of  earth's  juice ;  earth-juice  is 
earth.  Now  Earth  is  composed  only  of  its 
five  attributes:  Sound,  Touch,  Form,  Taste 
and  Smell,  the  first  four  of  which  compose 
Water,  the  first  three  compose  Fire,  the  first 
two  Air,  and  the  first,  Sound,  is  the  Attribute 
of  Ether  (Akas).  Therefore  the  other  four 
Elements  are  present  in  earth  on  account  of 
their  respective  attributes  being  contained  in 
it.  Our  physical  body,  therefore,  being  made 
of  formations  of  Earth,  is  composed  of  the 
Five  Elements. 

The  material  of  the  physical  body  is  supplied 
by  our  parents  and  the  astral  body  we  supply 
ourselves.  The  astral  body  is  our  perma- 
nent body.  It  puts  on  new  flesh-garments 
from  time,  to  time.  When  it  slips  into  a  new 
flesh-garment  it  is  called  birth;  when  it  slips 
out  of  it,  it  is  called  death.  But  really  the 
astral  body  lives  on  forever  and  ever  and  never 
ceases  to  exist  unless  we  find  the  means  and 
take  measures  to  destroy  it.  The  extinction 
of  the  astral  body  is  brought  about  by  the 
mind's  absolute  dissociation  from  the  bondage 
and  influence  of  matter  and  material  ideas, 
221 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

and  absorption  into  the  Divine  Essence,  Mukti. 
The  earth  and  the  visible  sky  form  the  physi- 
cal body  of  the  Universe  and  the  upper  six 
spheres  form  its  astral  body  which  includes  still 
subtler  bodies.  This  means  that  both  the  uni- 
versal and  the  human  bodies  are  constructed  on 
the  same  principle.  Both  are  formed  of  seven 
bodies,  encased  like  a  sheath  within  a  sheath. 
These  are  called  the  Food-made  (physical) 
body,  the  Vital  body,  the  Mental  (or  Astral) 
body,  the  Psychic  body,  the  Wisdom  (or  Cau- 
sal) body,  the  Blissful  body  and  the  Soul  body. 


222 


SECTION  XVII. 

KARMA. 

THE  Universe  is  one  whole  manifestation  of 
Cause  and  Effect.  All  Nature  is  manifested 
and  materialized  forces  of  Action  and  Re- 
action. The  Doctrine  of  Karma  is  based  upon 
the  natural  law  by  which  action  produces  re- 
action, the  law  of  cause  and  effect.  It  holds 
that  every  action  is  the  cause  of  every  reaction 
as  well  as  the  effect  of  the  action  which  is  its 
producing  cause.  The  doctrine  of  Reincar- 
nation specifies  the  different  physical  forms 
in  which  groups  of  accumulated  causes  of  re- 
action manifest  themselves  in  Nature.  The 
laws  of  Karma  are  the  regulated  blendings  of 
the  subtle  forces  of  the  finer  principles  of  Na- 
ture which,  operating  from  within,  shape 
these  outer  physical  forms. 

Karma  begins  with  the  creation  of  the  Uni- 
verse, and  Creation  begins  with  the  loss  of 
equilibrium  of  the  three  Cardinal  Attributes 
while  dwelling  in  a  quiescent  state  in  Absolute 
Love — Krishna.  This  inequilibrium  develops 
223 


SREE  KRISHNA, 

the  germ  of  the  Past  Universe,  which  the  At- 
tributes hold  within  them,  and  manifests  itself 
as  a  New  Universe — a  new  Creation.  The 
word  Karma  is  derived  from  the  Sanscrit  root 
Kri,  to  act.  Karma  means  action.  Action 
means  the  motion  of  the  operating  forces  of 
Nature.  The  Karma  of  the  past  Creations, 
stored  up  as  ideation  within  the  even  forces  of 
the  Attributes,  works  itself  out  in  the  form 
and  phases  of  a  new  Creation.  Every  suc- 
ceeding Creation  therefore  is  the  reactive  re- 
sult of  all  previous  creations.  This  reaction  of 
the  accumulated  action-potencies  of  the  past 
creations  produces  the  uniform  dimensions 
and  the  principal  features  of  the  cycles,  so  that 
the  history  of  every  cycle,  from  the  smallest 
to  the  largest,  repeats  itself  in  its  chief  points 
in  naturally  regulated  succession. 

As  in  the  great  universe,  so  in  its  epitome, 
man.  The  microcosm  is  ruled  by  the  same 
laws  as  the  macrocosm,  the  laws  of  cause  and 
effect,  of  action  and  reaction.  Man  is  the 
conscious  embodiment  of  the  blended  forces 
of  his  past  actions,  actions  of  previous  con- 


224 


KARMA, 

scious  embodiments  born  of  the  forces  of  still 
more   previous   embodiments. 

Action  proceeds  from  thought.  Thought 
is  the  source  and  spring  of  action.  No  action 
is  possible  without  its  producing  cause, 
thought,  which  is  a  phase  of  the  mind's  voli- 
tion. All  our  thoughts  are  impressed  on  the 
mind,  the  moment  they  form  themselves,  in 
condensed  pictures.  The  more  powerful  a 
thought,  the  deeper  the  impression  on  the 
mind.  Weak,  undeveloped  thoughts  make 
superficial  impressions  and  are  liable  to  wear 
off.  The  impression  of  a  powerful  thought  is 
likewise  rubbed  off  by  the  force  of  a  strong 
counter-thought.  An  angry  thought,  for  in- 
stance, prompts  us  to  do  a  bad  action,  but  be- 
fore it  is  reduced  to  action,  our  reason  some- 
times intervenes,  argues  against  it,  convinces 
us  of  its  error  which  induces  repentance.  The 
stronger  the  counter-thought  of  repentance, 
the  more  quickly  and  effectively  it  rubs  off  the 
impression.  But  if  the  thought  is  reduced  to 
action,  its  impression  is  deep  and  enduring, 
and  requires  the  aid  of  absolutely  sincere, 
burning  repentance  to  destroy  that  impression. 

225 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

These  thought-impressions  on  the  mind  are 
called  seeds  of  Karma.  They  are  exactly  like 
seeds  of  trees  in  their  potencies  and  operations. 
As  a  seed  of  a  tree,  when  planted  in  the  soil, 
germinates,  grows,  flowers  and  bears  fruit, 
so  does  a  Karma-impression  germinate,  grow, 
flower  and-  bear  fruit.  As  the  germ  of  a 
seed,  in  process  of  development,  produces  the 
events  called  sprouting,  putting  forth  leaves 
and  branches,  flowering  and  fruiting,  so,  a 
man's  mental  thought-impressions  of  previous 
lives,  in  almost  the  self-same  way,  sprout, 
put  forth  leaves  and  branches,  flower  and  fruit 
in  the  shape  of  events,  inside  and  outside  of 
him.  The  thought-impressions  are  reflected 
upon  the  aura.  "Aura"  is  a  Sanscrit  word, 
its  transliterated  form  being  "Ara,"  from 
"Ar"  which  means  the  spoke  of  a  wheel. 
"Ara"  means  full  of  spoke-like  shoots  of  ra- 
diance from  any  centre.  This  centre  of  our 
aura  is  our  mind.  Aura,  therefore,  is  the 
radiance  of  the  mind  which  permeates  and  en- 
velopes our  body  in  an  oval  shape  and  gener- 
ally extends  one  cubit  outside  of  our  body. 
The  aura  and  reflections  of  these  thought- 

226 


KARMA. 

t 

impressions  on  the  aura  are  visible  only  to  the 
spiritual  and  psychical  sight.  The  illuminated 
saints  and  yogis  who  have  developed  this 
sight,  not  only  see  this  aura,  but  also  the  re- 
flections of  the  thought-impressions  which  they 
can  read  and  interpret  as  we  read  and  interpret 
words.  These  reflections  are  called  the  char- 
acters of  the  mind — the  Hidden  Pictures 
(Chitra-Gupta)  of  Human  Conduct — which 
reveal  the  past,  present  and  future  history  of 
a  human  soul  to  those  who  can  decipher  them. 
From  the  aura  these  characters  are  reflected 
again  upon  the  Ether  which  receives  the  im- 
pression and  keeps  the  record  of  each  external 
and  internal  event  in  Nature.  The  Ether  is 
the  storehouse  of  the  records  of  all  human 
and  natural  happenings  and  vibrations.  And 
it  is  from  this  storehouse  of  all  mental  records 
that  true  clairvoyance  draws  its  inspired  mes- 
sages and  revelations.  A  fully  developed 
Yogi  can  learn  the  details  of  an  event  which 
occurred  ten  thousand  years  ago  or  of  any 
time,  and  can  tell  of  any  present  or  future  oc- 
currence in  any  part  of  the  world  by  concen- 
trating upon  the  Ether,  the  all-knowing  Ether. 

227 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Thus  the  records  of  the  causes  of  human 
actions  are  kept  in  triplicate,  so  that  there 
is  no  escape  from  the  potencies  of  their  merits 
and  demerits,  unless  the  main  records  (those 
on  the  mind)  are  melted  away  by  the  fire  of 
absolute,  all-absorbing  spiritual  consciousness. 
Actions  (Karma)  are  of  two  kinds,  white 
and  black.  White  Karma  springs  from  the 
Sattwic  state  of  mind,  and  Black  Karma  from 
its  Tamasic  state.  The  color  of  Sattwa 
(Illumination)  is  white,  the  color  of  Tama 
(Darkness)  is  black,  hence  Karma  is  white  or 
black.  Raja  is  the  attribute  of  Activity,  the 
working  principle,  the  motive  power  of  action. 
Without  the  aid  of  Raja  no  action  is  possible. 
When  Raja  works  with  dominant  Sattwa 
the  result  is  white  Karma,  when  it  works  with 
dominant  Tama,  the  result  is  black  Karma. 
The  white  and  black  actions  are  commonly 
called  good  and  bad.  What  is  a  good  action? 
It  is  an  action  whose  ultimate  reaction  pro- 
duces harmony  and  happiness  and  illumines 
the  mind.  What  is  a  bad  action?  It  is  an 
action  which,  however  enjoyable  or  otherwise 
while  it  lasts,  produces  a  reaction  of  inhar- 

228 


KARMA. 

mony,  pain  and  misery,  causing  darkness  of 
the  mind. 

In  respect  to  the  law  according  to  which 
they  come  to  be  worked  out  in  their  turn,  the 
Karma-seeds,  white  and  black,  are  of  three 
classes — Sanchit,  Prarabdha  and  Kriyaman  or 
Agami.  Sanchit  means  stored-up.  Prarab- 
dha means  Karma  the  reaction  of  which  has 
begun  or  that  which  is  working  now.  Kri- 
yaman means  Karma-seeds  originating  out  of 
the  Prarabdha  Karma  now  being  worked  out, 
but  which  will  form  the  seeds  of  future 
(Agami)  actions.  Sanchit  Karma  includes  the 
seeds  of  all  the  actions  of  past  existences 
stored  up  as  impressions  on  the  mind.  Out  of 
this  storehouse  of  Karma-seeds  that,  white 
or  black,  which  is  the  most  powerful  asserts 
itself  to  be  worked  out  first,  drawing  to  itself, 
by  the  law  of  affinity,  Karma-seeds  of  minor 
power,  but  of  a  nature  similar  to  its  own.  This 
most  powerful  Karma-seed,  lumped  up  with 
small  Karma-seeds  of  similar  character,  forms 
the  Prarabdha  Karma,  Karma  which  is  in  the 
process  of  being  worked  out.  And  in  its  pro- 
cess of  working  the  fresh  thought-impressions 

229 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

which  the  mind  is  registering  are  called  Kri- 
yaman  (Karma  being  born),  also  called  Agami 
(future)  Karma,  Karma  seeds  which,  after 
being  deposited  in  the  storehouse,  will  come  to 
be  worked  out  in  their  turn  in  future,  either  as 
main  or  minor  Prarabdha,  according  to  their 
potency. 

This  is  the  law  of  working  of  human  Karma, 
the  inexorable  law  which  shapes  our  life  and 
destiny,  which  fills  existence  with  joy  or  sor- 
row. Karma  is  unending  unless  we  learn  the 
mysterious  law  which  works  it  and  grasp  the 
still  more  mysterious  Law  behind  that  Karmic 
law  and  by  its  practice  destroy  its  roots  and 
prevent  its  present  and  future  actions  within 
us.  I  will  speak  of  this  Law  and  of  its  ways 
of  practice  later  on. 

We  often  see  a  man,  who  has  lived  a  good, 
pure  and  harmonious  life,  suddenly,  through 
circumstances  or  bad  associations,  changed  in- 
to a  bad  man.  He  becomes  worse  in  habits 
and  conduct  and  dies  in  that  degraded  mental 
state.  Similarly  we  find  some  one  very  bad 
up  to  a  certain  period  of  life;  he  suddenly 
turns  good  and,  before  death,  develops  into  an 

230 


KARMA. 

angelic  character.  This  law  of  Karma  is  be- 
hind this  change  of  character.  Good  Pra- 
rabdha  influences  one  into  good  life  and 
actions  while  it  is  working.  But  if  some 
black  Karma-seed  is  the  most  powerful  of  all 
Karma-seeds  in  the  mind's  storehouse,  after 
the  good  Prarabdha  has  been  worked  out,  it 
asserts  itself  to  be  worked  out  next  and, 
lumped  up  with  the  minor  seeds,  forms  his 
Prarabdha  which  changes  the  whole  complex- 
ion of  his  character  and  conduct.  The  case  of 
a  bad  man  becoming  good  is  subject  to  the 
same  law;  a  white  Prarabdha,  owing  to  its 
predominant  power,  succeeds  a  bad  one.  The 
liability  of  alternate  succession  of  bad  and 
good  Karma  producing  the  actions  of  human 
beings  is  expressed  in  the  metaphoric  saying 
that  the  action  of  Karma  in  man  is  like  a  re- 
volving wheel. 

As  a  seed  of  a  tree  takes  time  to  bear  fruit, 
grow  old  and  die,  so  a  Karma-seed  takes  time 
to  develop  and  die.  As  the  periodical  putting 
forth  of  leaves,  flowers  and  fruits  are  the 
events  in  the  life  of  a  tree,  so  the  experiences 
of  a  man's  life  represent  the  development  of 

231 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

his  Prarabdha  Karma-seed.  The  time  a  Kar- 
ma-seed takes  to  work  itself  out  is  measured  by 
the  duration  of  the  sustaining  power  of  its 
potentialities.  One  Prarabdha  Karma  may 
embrace  two  or  three  or  more  births  if  it  is 
very  powerful,  or  may  end  in  the  middle  of  one 
birth,  if  it  be  not  so  powerful.  An  extra- 
ordinarily powerful  Karma  may  extend  for  a 
long,  long  time,  covering  many,  many  births, 
suicide  for  instance.  The  thought  which  leads 
to  suicide  makes  the  deepest  impression  on  the 
mind,  far  deeper,  in  fact,  than  even  the  thought 
which  commits  murder.  Why?  Because  we 
love  our  own  life  more  than  anybody  else's  or 
than  anything  else  on  earth.  It,  therefore,  re- 
quires an  extraordinarily  powerful  thought 
to  overpower  that  innate,  intense  love  of  our 
life  and  incite  us  to  destroy  it.  The  thought 
back  of  this  self-murder,  therefore,  makes  the 
deepest  impression  on  our  mind  and  thus  be- 
comes the  most  powerful  Karma-seed  of  all 
Karma-seeds.  This  being  so,  it  asserts  itself 
to  form  the  Prarabdha,  every  time  it  is  worked 
out,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  Karma-seeds, 
for  a  long  series  of  births,  in  every  one  of 


KARMA. 

which  that  soul  commits  suicide,  sometimes, 
as  it  is  often  found,  without  any  apparent  rea- 
son. It  is  divine  mercy  alone  that  saves  a 
suicide  from  committing  suicide  in  even- 
birth  ever  afterwards.  Hence  suicide  is  the 
greatest  sin,  greater  than  even  murder. 

To  the  average  Western  mind  this  Karma 
philosophy  strikes  as  intolerably  pessimistic 
on  account  of  the  inexorableness  of  its  laws. 
There  is,  however,  no  help  for  it.  These  laws 
rule  us  all  whether  we  believe  in  it  or  not. 
They  are  no  man-created  laws,  they  are  laws 
which  operate  throughout  Nature,  as  much 
within  a  white  man  as  within  a  brown,  yellow 
or  black  man,  of  all  stations  of  life,  of  all  grades 
of  consciousness.  Yet  it  need  not  strike  any- 
body, who  has  found  the  easy  and  rosy  path 
out  of  the  woods  of  Karma,  as  pessimistic  at 
all.  But  he  or  she  must  ever  keep  to  that  path 
and  never  stray  out  of  it  from  sheer  wilful- 
ness,  or  else  there  certainly  is  no  escape  out 
of  the  labyrinth  of  Karma. 


233 


SECTION  XVIII. 

REINCARNATION. 

REINCARNATION,  as  I  have  said,  is  the  physi- 
cal form  in  which  groups  of  accumulated 
causes  (Karma)  of  reaction  manifest  them- 
selves in  Nature.  Reincarnation  means  re- 
birth. Rebirth  means,  to  be  born  again  in  flesh 
after  death.  In  order,  therefore,  to  know 
what  is  rebirth,  we  must  know  what  is  death. 
To  know  what  is  death,  we  must  know  what 
is  life. 

Let  us  see  what  life  really  is.  Human  life 
is  conscious  mentality  encased  in  flesh.  To 
be  briefer,  human  life  may  be  summed  up  in 
one  word — consciousness.  Life  of  lower  ani- 
mals is  negative  consciousness,  while  human 
life  is  positive  consciousness. 

Human  consciousness  is  subject  to  three 
states.  The  Waking  state,  the  Dream  state  and 
the  Dreamless  Sleep  state.  In  the  waking  state 
all  our  inner  and  outer  senses  work.  The 
inner  senses  are:  The  Intellect,  the  Ego  and 
the  Mind.  The  outer  senses  are  the  five  cog- 
234 


REINCARNATION. 

nizing  and  the  five  working  senses.  These 
senses  are  fully  active  during  our  waking 
state.  So  long  as  the  mind  thinks,  the  intel- 
lect decides,  the  Ego  is  self-conscious,  the  eye 
sees,  the  ear  hears,  etc.,  they  are  acting.  And 
activity  (Raja)  brings  about  the  reaction  of 
weariness  (Tarrt'a).  In  other  words,  the 
senses  become  tired  out,  owing  to  incessant 
work  and  need  rest.  It  is  the  state  of  weari- 
ness of  the  senses  that  makes  us  feel  exhausted 
and  seek  rest.  But  the  senses  cannot  have 
full  rest  as  long  as  we  are  in  a  waking  state, 
for  their  activity  never  ceases  while  we  are 
awake.  Here  Nature's  law  steps  in  and  draws 
a  veil  between  the  senses  and  their  objects, 
the  veil  of  Tama,  born  out  of  the  excessive 
work  of  Raja.  We  fall  asleep. 

But  in  the  first  stage  of  sleep  our  senses 
still  sustain  their  activity,  though  in  a  lesser 
degree  than  in  the  waking  state,  owing  to  their 
still  cognizing  reflections  of  the  objects  and 
scenes  impressed  on  our  mind  while  we  are 
awake.  This  is  called  the  dream  state  of  con- 
sciousness. Dreams  are  of  three  kinds.  The 
ordinary  dream  is  made  up  of  the  blended  re- 

235 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

flections  of  impressions  of  scenes  and  thoughts 
in  natural  or  fantastic  shapes.  The  second 
kind  of  dream  is  a  clear  unmixed  reflection  of 
the  mind's  impressions  of  some  of  our  ex- 
periences in  a  previous  birth.  The  third  kind 
of  dream  is  a  reflection  cast  upon  our  pure 
consciousness  of  coming  events  from  their 
Karmic  impressions  on  the  Ether  or  on  our 
own  aura.  The  ordinary  dreams  belong  to 
the  dream  state.  The  other  two  classes  of 
dreams  are  experiences  during  the  dreamless 
state  of  sleep,  generally  in  the  morning  just 
before  awaking. 

The  dreams  in  the  first  stage  of  our  sleep 
keep  our  senses  still  employed  and  the  mind 
active  on  that  account,  for  the  activity  of  the 
mind  is  generated  by  the  operations  of  the 
senses  with  their  objects.  Hence  neither  the 
tired  mind  nor  the  tired  senses  derive  the  com- 
plete rest  they  need,  until  gradually  the  veil  of 
Tama  grows  dense  and  shuts  out  even  the 
mental  reflections  of  objects  from  their  view. 
This  stops  the  operations  of  the  senses  which 
then  are  absorbed  by  the  mind  whose  off- 
springs and  agents  they  are,  for  the  senses  can- 

236 


REINCARNATION. 

not  exist  when  they  are  deprived  of  their  func- 
tion of  cognition.  The  same  thing  occurs  with 
the  mind,  for  its  activity,  caused  and  sustained 
by  the  activity  of  the  senses,  is  the  only  reason 
for  its  separate  existence.  With  the  loss  of  its 
function,  therefore,  the  mind  loses  this  sepa- 
rate existence  and  is  absorbed  by  the  Ego.  The 
Ego  is  in  the  same  way  absorbed  by  Conscious- 
ness, for  the  Ego  is  dependent  on  the  Mind 
which  sustains  its  existence  of  self-conscious- 
ness. And  then  Absolute  Consciousness, 
with  the  passive  germs  of  the  Ego,  Mind  and 
Senses  merged  in  it,  is  absorbed  in  its  turn  by 
the  Soul  and  dwells  in  its  realm  until  the  senses 
have  rested  sufficiently. 

In  the  depth  of  this  dreamless  sleep  state 
of  our  consciousness,  Tama  gives  place  to  the 
reaction  of  Sattwa  which  is  very  pure  during 
this  state.  This  dreamless  sleep  may  be  called 
a  negative  trance  state.  When  we  awake, 
through  development  of  the  Raja  Attribute, 
we  feel  not  only  thoroughly  refreshed  but  a!so 
in  a  state  of  mental  harmony,  a  happy  mood  of 
mind.  We  also  feel  that  we  were,  during 
that  dead  sleep,  in  a  state  of  utter  oblivion  of 

237 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

everything.  We  feel  we  forgot  then  even  our 
own  existence,  feel  that  we  were  not  conscious 
even  of  our  own  self,  that  we  were  in  an  ab- 
solutely happy  state,  happy  with  happiness  it- 
self. We  know  of  this  condition,  when  we 
awake  from  it,  by  inference  from  the  happy 
state  of  our  mental  mood,  induced  by  the  ab- 
stract impression  of  it  upon  our  consciousness 
which  was  present  then  in  its  pure  state.  The 
cause  of  the  refreshment  and  new  strength  of 
our  body  and  senses  is  this  dip  in  the  Essence 
of  the  Soul,  the  source  of  all  energy.  The 
physicians  try  to  put  their  patients  into  this 
deep  sleep  in  serious  cases  of  illness,  knowing 
by  experience  that  deep  sleep  is  a  quicker  and 
more  powerful  restorer  of  health  than  any 
medicine,  but  they  do  not  know  where  lies  the 
balm  of  sound  sleep. 

The  activity  of  Raja  brings  about  the  awak- 
ening from  this  state  by  causing  the  unfold- 
ment  of  the  infolded  Ego,  mind  and  senses 
which  resume  their  operations  with  external 
and  internal  objects  as  before.  The  difference 
between  death  and  sleep  lies  here.  After  sleep 
we  resume  the  functions  of  our  senses,  but 

238 


REINCARNATION. 

death  is  caused  by  the  confusion  of  our  mind, 
on  account  of  the  senses  not  being  able  to  re- 
sume their  functions,  owing  to  the  disorder  of 
the  physical  counterparts  of  the  sense-organs 
through  disease.  Disease  belongs  to  the  physi- 
cal body,  and  the  senses  with  the  mind  and  Ego 
belong  to  the  astral  body  which  we  are.  The 
pains  we  feel  are  caused  by  our  identifying 
ourselves  with  our  physical  encasement.  If 
we  keep  the  fact  constantly  alive  in  our  mind 
that  our  physical  body  is  the  earthly  home  of 
our  soul,  which  is  the  centre  of  our  astral 
self,  we  will  not  only  not  feel  physical  pain 
but  prevent  or  do  away  with  such  pain  even 
in  the  physical  body.  To  know  ourselves  as 
nothing  but  our  physical  body  is  the  densest, 
narrowest  and  the  most  mischievous  igno- 
rance. We  often  find  proofs  of  this  separate- 
ness  of  the  physical  and  mental  bodies  from 
facts  which  present  themselves  in  our  daily 
life;  we  fail  to  cognize  the  experiences  of  our 
body  or  even  of  our  senses  when  our  mind 
is  absent  from  them  and  absorbed  in  some 
other  direction.  It  is  the  mind  that  feels  pain 
or  pleasure,  not  the  body,  neither  the  senses. 

239 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

The  physician,  through  the  action  of  drugs, 
causes  the  attribute  of  Tama  to  assert  itself 
and  cover  the  mind's  perception  with  its  dark 
veil,  so  that  the  patient  may  not  feel  the  pain 
of  a  serious  operation  on  the  body,  while  we 
feel  no  pleasure  in  eating  or  drinking  if  our 
mind  is  away  from  them. 

The  Yogi  who  has,  by  practice,  developed 
unbroken  consciousness  of  the  separateness  of 
the  mental  and  physical  body  not  only  enjoys, 
when  the  consciousness  is  absolute,  immunity 
from  physical  diseases  and  mishaps,  but  also 
does  not  feel  the  throes  of  death  when  he  leaves 
his  worn-out  or  diseased  physical  tenement. 
But  the  generality  of  mortals  who  cannot 
think  of  themselves  as  anything  else  but  their 
physical  bodies,  owing  to  ignorance,  suffer 
from  all  physical  diseases.  When  these  physi- 
cal diseases  put  the  physical  counterparts  of 
sense-organs  into  disorder,  it  confuses  the 
mind  when  it  finds  that  its  channels  of  outward 
communication,  the  senses,  can  no  longer  work 
through  them.  In  that  confusion  it  loses  its 
balance  and  is  strongly  swayed  by  the  desire  to 
again  see  and  hear  and  feel  and  taste,  etc. 

340 


REINCARNATFON. 

But  finding  it  impossible  to  do  so  in  the  pres- 
ent body  any  more,  it  tries  to  find  some  vehicle 
through  which  it  can  resume  its  functions.  The 
pain  of  the  worst  stage  of  the  physical  disease 
distracts  it  more  and  more  so  that  it  thinks  it 
would  be  more  comfortable  in  any  other  body 
than  its  present  one.  In  confusion,  this  central 
force  of  the  astral  body  enters  with  that  body 
into  the  volume  of  air  which  fills  the  physical 
body,  thinking  it  will  gain  relief  from  the  un- 
bearable pain.  And  no  sooner  the  astral 
body,  which  is  very  subtle  and  finer  than  the 
air,  enters  into  it,  than  it  passes  out,  thus  air- 
encased,  through  the  mouth,  causing  the  death 
of  the  physical  body.  This  is  the  common 
process  of  death.  Some  astral  bodies  enter  the 
air-body  unconsciously  if  the  mind  has  been 
benumbed  by  pain  or  covered  by  the  influence 
of  excessive  Tama.  But  this  is  certain  of 
every  ordinary  soul  that  it  goes  out  of  the 
body  encased  iri  air. 

The  thought  predominant  in  this  supreme 

moment  of  human  life  decides  the  destination 

of  the  human  soul  encased  in  the  astral  body 

when  it  leaves  its  physical  home.    If  we  think 

241 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  nothing  but  of  Krishna  at  this  moment  we 
go  to  Krishna  and  live  in  His  Abode,  Goloka, 
the  Abode  of  Absolute  Love.  If  we  think  of 
Christ  we  go  to  Christ  in  His  Father's  King- 
dom of  Heaven.  If  we  are  filled  with  the  con- 
ception of  Nirvana — extinction  of  all  individu- 
ality— we  go  to  Nirvana.  If  we  desire  for 
higher  life  above  the  earth  we  go  to  the  higher 
spheres.  But  if  our  earthly  attachments,  hav- 
ing their  influence  on  our  thoughts  at  that 
moment,  fill  us  with  regret  for  being  taken 
away  from  them  or  make  us  desire  for  earthly 
life,  we  return  to  earth-life  again,  but  not 
necessarily  to  a  joyful  or  comfortable  life.  A 
life  of  worldly  joy  and  comfort  is  due  to  good 
Karma  and  self-denial  in  some  previous  ex- 
istence. A  life  of  sorrow  and  hardship  is  due 
to  bad  Karma. 

The  earth-bound  soul,  on  leaving  the  physi- 
cal body,  feels  overcome  by  the  shock  of  its 
final  trouble  with  and  severance  from  that 
physical  body  and  remains  in  an  inert  state 
for  a  time.  When  it  recovers  from  that  shock, 
it  finds  that  it  has  been  transferred  to  a  worse 
state.  Although  the  air-body  in  which  it  is 

242 


REINCARNATION. 

encased  is  not  diseased,  it  has,  however,  no 
openings  for  its  senses  to  perform  their  re- 
spective functions.  It  finds  it  cannot  see  or 
hear  or  smell  or  touch  or  taste  anything  and 
yet  the  desires  for  these  objects  of  the  senses 
are  as  strong  as  when  it  was  in  the  physical 
body.  This  makes  it  weep  for  the  loss  of  its 
dear  physical  body  and  it  hovers  about  in  space 
sad  and  restless.  It  has  no  stomach,  yet  is 
filled  with  mental  hunger  and  thirst  which 
grow  intense  because  it  has  no  means  of 
satisfying  them.  Indeed,  finding  this  astral 
life  to  be  of  greater  torment,  the  unhappy 
earth-bound  soul  longs  to  have  a  flesh  cover- 
ing again,  to  be  reborn,  and  flies  hither  and 
thither  blindly,  because  of  the  want  of  physical 
organs,  and  some  day  gains  this  object.  It 
enters,  through  the  vigor  (Sanscrit  'virga/ 
'virjya,'  force,  power)  of  a  man  into  a  woman's 
womb.  This  causes  conception.  No  concep- 
tion can  take  place  without  a  disembodied 
spirit  entering  the  womb.  Vigor  mixed  with 
the  mother's  blood  supplies  the  physical  body 
which  is  mere  dead  matter  without  the  vivify- 
ing astral  soul.  It  is  only  when  an  astral  soul 

243 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

enters  it  that  the  womb  closes  and  conception 
takes  place.  The  incoming  soul  then  feels  it- 
self confined  within  its  scope  and  cannot  go 
out  of  it  by  its  own  effort  or  will. 

The  selection  of  the  vigor  and  the  womb 
for  the  astral  soul  is  made  principally  accord- 
ing to  the  subtle  law  of  individual  Karma  and, 
secondarily,  according  to  the  law  of  affinity. 
The  mental  characteristics  of  the  parents  must 
be  similar  to  those  of  the  soul  to  draw  it  to 
them.  As  for  its  physical  body,  it  may  favor 
in  appearance  its  mother  or  its  father  more 
or  less  according  as  their  individuality  and 
image  are  stamped  on  the  vigor  and  the  blood 
through  the  state  of  extreme  mental  concentra- 
tion induced  at  the  time.  If  the  incoming  soul 
possesses  far  stronger  individuality  than  those 
of  the  father  and  the  mother,  it  asserts  this 
upon  its  body  and  the  child  looks  like  neither 
the  father  nor  the  mother.  He  looks  like  him- 
self— a  form  and  appearance  born  of  the  im- 
agination of  its  own  strong  individuality. 

This  direct  rebirth  from  hovering  in  the 
astral  body  in  the  astral  plane  for  some  time  is 
not  true  in  the  case  of  every  disembodied  soul. 

244 


REINCARNATION. 

There  are  souls  which,  after  death,  may  go  at 
once  to  Heaven  ('Swarga,'  Celestial  regions) 
or  to  Purgatory,  the  nether  regions.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Hindoo  Scriptures,  Heaven  (Swar- 
ga) is  not  the  Abode  of  God,  but  the  abode  of 
the  gods,  the  Swar-sphere  where  the  gods,  the 
governors  of  the  Elements  and  Attributes  of 
Nature,  dwell.  It  is  the  Prarabdha  Karma  of 
the  soul  that  determines  its  translation  after 
death  to  Heaven  or  Purgatory.  The  joys  of 
Heaven  are  reserved  as  a  reward  for  good 
Karma.  And  yet  these  heavenly  joys  are  but 
finest  forms  of  material  happiness,  enjoyed  by 
merit  of  good  actions  performed  in  earth-life 
for  the  sake  of  just  such  recompense.  These 
heaven-dwellers  mentally  enjoy  all  these  ex- 
quisite pleasures  of  the  senses  at  their  will,  as 
well  as  the  company  of  celestial  beings,  as 
long  as  the  term  of  their  merit  lasts.  At  the 
expiration  of  the  term  they  come  down  to 
earth  to  be  reborn  again.  These  heavenly 
blessings  are,  therefore,  but  transitory. 

Intensely  wicked  actions,  in  the  same  man- 
ner, are  punished  by  a  term  of  suffering  tor- 
tures in  Purgatory,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
245 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

the  purged  souls  may  go  straight  to  heaven, 
if  good  Prarabdha  Karma  succeeds  their  ex- 
piatory sufferings,  or  be  reborn  again  on 
earth.  The  tendency  of  the  pleasure-seeking, 
materialistic,  modern  mind  is  to  disbelieve  the 
existence  of  any  such  place  of  torture  as  Pur- 
gatory. They  think  that  Heaven  and  Purgatory 
exist  only  on  earth  within  man's  mind.  This 
is  true  and  yet  it  is  not.  If  anybody  develops 
high  spirituality  he  or  she  can  taste  higher, 
finer  and  more  lasting  joys  than  even  celestial 
pleasures.  For  such  there  is  neither  Heaven 
nor  Purgatory,  for  intense  spirituality  burns 
down  all  seeds  of  Karma.  As  to  enduring 
the  tortures  of  Purgatory  here  on  earth 
through  repentance,  that  is  true  too.  But  if 
the  spirit  of  repentance  is  not  absolute,  it  fails 
to  fully  purge  away  the  sin,  so  that  such  sinful 
souls  have  to  go  to  the  nether  regions  for 
complete  cleansing.  The  Hindoo  Books  do  not 
believe  in  such  a  thing  as  Eternal  Hell  or 
Punishment,  because  it  is  absurd,  unjust  and 
unscientific  according  to  the  laws  of  Nature. 
The  governor  of  "Naraka"  (Purgatory)  is 
one  of  the  gods,  the  presiding  deity  of  Justice 

246 


REINCARNATION. 

(Dharmaraj)  and  the  regions  of  his  rule  are 
situated  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Hu- 
man houses  of  correction  (prisons)  tend  more 
to  corrupt  than  to  correct,  because  those  in 
charge  of  them  are  not  imbued  with  a  perfect 
spirit  of  sympathy,  justice  and  mercy.  In  the 
Divine  houses  of  correction  (Purgatory)  per- 
fect justice  blends  with  mercy  and  sympathy, 
and  the  governor  thereof  is  the  embodiment 
of  these  three  attributes.  He  has  to  deal  with 
his  prisoners  according  to  their  own  records 
of  their  misdeeds,  reflected  on  the  aura,  a  true 
copy  of  which  is  kept  in  the  books  of  Ether, 
from  which  his  Recording  Angel  transcribes 
items  credited  to  each  individual  soul. 

For  the  pious,  spiritually  developed  soul, 
however,  there  is  no  Purgatory,  as  I  have  said. 
It  lives  and  breathes  in  a  plane  which  is  out- 
side of  the  three  lower  planes  of  selfish  actions 
and  their  reactions,  outside  of  the  jurisdiction 
even  of  the  gods.  To  his  ensouled  mind  the 
word  purgatory  or  heaven  has  no  meaning 
whatever.  He  loves  spirituality  for  its  own 
dear  sake  and  feels  itself  safe  from  all  evil 
in  the  embrace  of  its  protecting  arms. 
247 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Into  the  vigor  or  the  blood  of  such  a  spiritual 
soul,  no  wicked  astral  spirit  can  enter.  Its 
pure  aura  repels  such  spirits  and  admits  only 
kindred  spirits  seeking  rebirth,  drawn  to  it  by 
Karma  and  affinity. 

Much  suffering  is  the  lot  of  the  ordinary 
soul  while  growing  in  the  womb,  on  account  of 
its  cramped  consciousness  and  the  narrow 
space  in  which  it  is  confined.  After  the  sixth 
month,  it  has  a  wonderful  experience.  The 
veil  shrouding  its  past  existence  is  suddenly 
lifted  and  the  memories  of  all  of  its  past  births 
rush  across  its  mind.  It  even  witnesses  the 
scenes  of  thousands  of  its  previous  existences 
and  realizes  the  reason  of  the  pain  and  sorrow 
suffered  during  all  these  existences — the  rea- 
son of  its  having  been  attached  to  material 
objects  and  having  disregarded  the  develop- 
ment of  its  spiritual  self,  its  having  been  un- 
mindful of  its  duty  to  its  Maker  and  its  fellow 
man.  This  realization  crushes  its  mind  with 
contrition  and  it  weeps  and  prays  to  God  to 
forgive  it  and  promises  to  live  a  life  of  devo- 
tion to  Him  in  the  future.  This  goes  on  for 
three  months  together  until  it  is  born,  when, 

248 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

at  the  touch  of  the  earthly  atmosphere  all 
those  memories  vanish  and  it  is  once  more 
drowned  in  oblivion.  It  is  more  from  the  pain 
of  this  shock  that  it  cries  out  at  the  time  of 
birth. 


249 


SECTION  XIX. 

HOW   TO  DESTROY    KARMA. 

Now  comes  to  be  considered  the  question  of 
questions — How  to  do  away  with  and  avoid 
bad  Karma.  If  Karma  is  the  cause  of  all  our 
sufferings  in  life,  how  to  remove  that  cause. 
We  have  before  this  had  births  and  the  actions 
in  those  innumerable  births  have  produced 
countless  Karma-seeds.  All  these  seeds  are 
stored  up  in  the  repository  of  the  mind.  How 
is  it  possible,  it  may  be  asked,  to  destroy  them 
all,  and  prevent  fresh  accumulation  of  new 
Karma-seeds  in  the  present  birth  ? 

To  those  who  ask  this  question  seriously, 
that  is,  with  a  serious  intention  of  acting  upon 
any  suggestion  that  may  seem  feasible  to  them, 
the  answer  is  pregnant  with  all  the  essentials 
of  a  true  solution.  To  such  the  answer  is 
simple  and  the  mode  of  solution  simpler.  To 
the  really  serious  soul,  hungering  for  freedom 
from  the  bondage  of  Karma,  even  the  practice 
of  the  principle  of  the  advice  may  strike  as 
still  more  simple.  But  the  practice  involves  the 


HOW  TO  DESTROY  KARMA. 

full  realization  of  the  source  of  Karma,  the 
perfect  understanding  of  its  laws,  their  opera- 
tions and  their  relations  to  his  own  individual 
self. 

Here  I  will  try  to  put  the  philosophy  of 
this  solution  as  briefly  as  possible.  If  our  ac- 
tions of  this  life  are  the  products  of  actions 
in  previous  lives,  the  actions  of  those  previous 
lives  are  the  effects  of  actions  in  still  more 
previous  lives  and  so  on.  Thus  trying  to  trace 
the  causes  of  all  our  actions  in  all  our  past 
lives,  we  are  bound  to  arrive  at  the  time  of  the 
Creation  of  the  universe,  when  it  sprang  from 
the  Will  of  Krishna.  We,  as  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse, sprang  from  that  Will  too.  Krishna's 
Will  before  Creation  was :  "I  am  One  and  I 
wish  to  be  the  Many,"  and  His  Creation  is  the 
manifestation  of  His  Will's  motion  towards 
manifoldness  and  Karma  is  the  law  of  the 
rhythmic  steps  of  that  motion.  The  Will  of 
Krishna,  therefore,  is  the  cause  of  all  Karma 
of  the  entire  Creation  as  well  as  of  ours,  be- 
cause we  are  but  parts  of  that  Creation.  This 
makes  it  clear  that,  since  Krishna  is  the  cause 
of  all  Karma  of  the  Universe,  He  is  the  Actor 
251 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  all  actions.  This  being  so,  the  cause  of 
our  sufferings  from  bondage  to  Karma  lies  in 
our  mistaken  conception  that  we  ourselves  are 
the  doer  of  our  actions.  This  cannot  be,  be- 
cause all  our  actions  proceed  from  our  past 
Karma,  the  roots  of  which  are  embedded  in 
the  Will  of  Krishna.  It  is  Krishna  that  is  the 
whole  Universe,  as  well  as  its  laws  and  actions. 
It  is  Krishna  that  suffers  and  enjoys  in  so 
many  shapes  and  forms  which  make  up  His 
moving  Will,  called  Nature.  All  our  troubles 
are  born  of  our  usurping  His  place,  the  place 
of  the  Real  Actor.  Hence  Karma  clings,  by 
natural  law,  to  whoever  claims  it.  We  claim 
the  doership  of  actions  which  manifest  them- 
selves through  us,  but  the  real  Doer  is  the 
spring  of  primeval  action — Krishna  Himself. 
This  belief,  that  we  ourselves  are  the  doers 
of  our  actions,  subjects  our  Ego  to  their  re- 
actions. If  by  tracing  the  source  of  Karma  to 
Krishna,  we  dispel  this  illusion  from  our  mind 
and  keep  it  ever  out  of  it,  so  that  it  may  not 
disturb  our  conviction  of  the  fact  that  Krishna 
is  the  only  Doer,  all  our  past  and  present 
Karma,  the  stored-up  and  the  working — San- 
252 


HOW  TO  DESTROY  KARMA. 

chit  and  Prarabdha — will  leave  us  of  them- 
selves and  go  to  Krishna  to  be  absorbed  by 
Him,  while,  for  the  same  reason,  the  Karma- 
seeds  springing  from  our  present  actions  will 
be  rendered  germless  like  roasted  seeds  which 
never  grow.  But  this  belief  needs  constant 
practice  of  this  thought  in  order  to  be  sus- 
tained without  interruption  and  involves  think- 
ing of  Krishna,  Absolute  Love  and  Life,  every 
minute — thoughts  by  which  the  thinker  ab- 
sorbs the  essence  of  the  purest  spirituality 
whose  illumination  ever  guides  him  along  the 
paths  of  Truth  and  Wisdom  and  prompts  him 
to  actions  whose  results  bring  harmony  and 
happiness  to  himself,  as  well  as  to  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

This  exposition  of  the  truth  of  our  utter 
irresponsibility  of  our  actions  will  appear 
strange  and  mischievous  only  to  unthinking 
minds.  The  fear  that  such  a  belief  of  ir- 
responsibility may  lead  some  people  to  bad 
actions  is  entirely  groundless.  Such  a  thing 
can  never  happen  for,  with  such  a  belief  firm 
in  our  mind,  we  have  to  think  of  God  always 
in  all  our  daily  actions,  and  this  constant  think- 
253 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ing  induces  concentration  upon  the  Deity  whose 
spirit  is  sure  to  prevent  and  counteract  all  our 
evil  thoughts,  not  to  speak  of  evil  actions.  A 
man  who  will  do  evil  actions,  taking  advantage 
of  this  principle,  will  only  deceive  himself. 
Such  evil-doing  can  only  show  that  he  has  no 
belief  in  the  principle  at  all,  but  thinks  of  it 
only  with  a  view  to  justify  actions  which  he, 
in  his  heart,  believes  to  be  his  own,  but  at- 
tributes to  God  to  get  rid  of  their  responsi- 
bilities, if  possible.  \  But  if  anyone  believes 
firmly  that  God  is  the  Doer  of  all  actions  and  ' 
yet,  for  want  of  proper  culture  of  this  belief, 
he  is  betrayed  into  evil  actions,  be  sure  his 
belief  growing  stronger  will  soon  control  his 
actions  and  lead  him  along  the  paths  of  the 
good  and  the  pure.  God-Consciousness  de- 
stroys all  evils  of  the  mind  to  their  very  roots. 
Thus  Karma  and  its  effects,  which  for  the 
ignorant,  unthinking,  and  reckless  human  soul 
are  ever  interminable,  can  by  exercise  of  wis- 
dom and  mental  power  and  discipline  be  ab- 
solutely done  away  with.  Karma  belongs  to 
Krishna  and  it  is  to  Krishna  that  it  and  its 
fruits  should  be  unreservedly  dedicated  for 
good.  The  moment  this  mystery  of  Karma  is 
254 


HOW  TO  DESTROY  KARMA. 

solved  and  the  soul  that  solves  it  acts  upon  its 
lesson,  than  Krishna  takes  it  into  His  arms, 
and  the  soul  and  its  Maker,  now  face  to  face, 
laugh  together  at  this  riddle  of  life,  and  in  that 
laugh  of  ecstasy  all  sorrow  and  pain  of  the 
past  are  forgotten  by  that  saved  soul. 


255 


SECTION   XX. 

THE  ATOM'S  RETURN   JOURNEY. 

IT  is  absolute  Krishna-consciousness — or  God- 
consciousness,  if  you  will,  if  that  God  is  Ab- 
solute Love — that  carries  the  atom  from  its 
man-stage  of  development  to  its  Real  Home, 
Krishna,  the  Abode  of  Eternal  Love  and  Bliss. 
Like  all  roads  leading  to  Rome,  all  religious 
paths  lead  to  that  Home.  The  primeval,  the 
most  natural  and  the  most  scientific  religion, 
called  now  the  Hindoo  religion,  has  construct- 
ed five  main  roads  for  making  the  return 
journey  easy,  and  the  travelers  can  choose  any 
of  these  roads,  according  to  their  inclinations 
and  the  state  of  spiritual  progress.  One  is  the 
Path  of  Light  and  Psychic  Force,  called  the 
path  of  the  Sun,  because  the  Sun  is  the  presid- 
ing deity  of  the  path.  The  second  is  the  Path 
of  Success  whose  presiding  deity  is  Ganapati, 
Bestower  of  Success.  The  third  is  the  Path 
of  Destruction  of  Tama  whose  presiding  deity 
is  Shiva,  the  Destroyer,  one  of  the  Hindoo 
Trinity  and  the  presiding  deity  of  Tama,  Shiva 

256 


THE  ATOM'S  RETURN  JOURNEY. 

who  has  subdued  Tama  and  become  its  lord. 
The  fourth  is  the  Path  of  Divine  Energy  whose 
presiding  deity  is  Durga,  the  Motherhood  of 
God  and  the  Universe — "Prakriti,"  Divine 
Nature.  The  fifth  is  the  Path  of  Spiritual  De- 
votion whose  presiding  deity  is  Vishnoo  (Ani- 
ruddha),  the  presiding  deity  of  Sattwa,  out  of 
whose  navel  the  universe  has  sprung  and  who 
is  the  dispenser  of  Moksha  to  the  walkers 
of  all  the  other  paths.  In  this  path  is  in- 
cluded another  path,  a  path  far  superior  to  all 
the  five  paths,  the  Path  of  Absolute  Causeless 
Love  which  leads  direct  to  Krishna,  whose  pre- 
siding Deity  is  Krishna,  the  Deity  of  all  the 
deities.  These  different  path-walkers  are 
called  by  the  names  of  their  respective  deities 
of  worship — Saura,  Ganapatya,  Shaiva,  Shakta 
(worshippers  of  'Shakti,'  Energy)  and  Vaish- 
navs,  among  whom  are  included  Krishna- 
worshippers. 

The  Sun  is  the  medium  of  the  physical 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  Light,  the  Light 
of  Absolute  Intelligence,  the  Co-existent  Attri- 
bute of  Absolute  Love.  It  is  called  the  Par- 
ent of  the  gross  universe,  the  Outer  Eye  of  the 
257 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

Deity,  the  passage  of  the  First  Sense  of  the 
Divine  Mind  which  produced  Forms.  The  de- 
votee of  the  Sun  worships  it  as  such,  as 
the  medium  of  the  Absolute  Deity,  Krishna. 
Some  of  them  concentrate  their  eyes  upon  the 
Sun,  immersed  in  water  up  to  the  neck  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  others  pray  to  it  morning, 
noon  and  evening  and  contemplate  its  power. 
The  sun  is  not  blazing  hot  as  some  modern 
people  think.  It  is  peopled  by  spiritual  souls 
who,  by  the  merit  of  soul-development,  go  from 
earth  after  death  to  dwell  there  for  further 
development.  These  spiritual  souls  are  spir- 
itually governed  by  one  who  is  most  developed 
among  them.  He  is  called  the  Sun-God,  the 
representative  of  the  sun.  Sun-worship 
leads  finally  to  Krishna-worship  in  some  fully 
developed  reincarnation. 

Ganapati,  first-born  of  Shiva  (Shiva  means 
Weal,  Destroyer  of  111  or  Evil),  is  the  pre- 
siding deity  and  bestower  of  Success — mate- 
rial, moral  and  spiritual — which  is  the  chief 
factor  of  human  weal.  Satisfied  material  suc- 
cess, virtuously  earned,  inspires  the  desire  for 
moral  development  in  well-ordered  minds,  and 
258 


THE  ATOM'S  RETURN  JOURNEY. 

moral  development,  in  turn,  leads  to  spiritual 
unfoldment.  By  concentration  on  this  Central 
Idea  of  Success  itself,  the  mind  of  the  devotee 
or  Ganapati,  absorbs  its  essence,  the  force  of 
which  guides  his  efforts  to  prosperity.  Earth- 
ly prosperity,  enjoyed  with  discrimination, 
impresses  us  with  its  hollowness,  its  failure 
to  satisfy  the  inner  craving  of  the  mind  and 
points  to  the  path  of  solid,  all-satisfying,  per- 
manent happiness. 

Shiva  is  the  Presiding  Deity  of  the  Weal  of 
Creation,  hence  his  name — Shiva.  He  is  the 
Conqueror  and  Destroyer  of  Darkness 
(Tama).  He  helps  his  devotees  to  dispel  the 
darkness  of  ignorance  generated  in  their  mind 
by  its  Tama  Attribute,  and  thus  uncover  its 
attribute  of  Sattwa  by  the  illumination  of 
which  their  souls  reach  the  state  of  Moksha 
—  Freedom  from  the  Bondage  of  Matter — and 
finally  merge  in  the  Divine  Essence  whence  it 
originally  sprang. 

Durga  is  Divine  Energy,  the  Motherhood 
or  Creation.  She  is  the  Sattwic  force  by 
which  Shiva  subdued  Tama.  Hence  she  is 
the  consort  of  Shiva,  the  Helpmeet  of  Spirit- 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ual  Weal.  Without  Durga,  his  Shakti 
(Energy),  Shiva  is  inert;  with  his  Shakti,  he 
is  alive  and  rules  the  universe.  Shiva  and 
his  Shakti  are  inseparable,  as  man  and  his 
mental  energy,  which  alone  he  is,  is  insepa- 
rable. Man  is  moved  by  his  mental  energy, 
so  Shiva  is  moved  by  his  spiritual  energy. 
Durga  is  the  highest  spiritual  phase  of  Kalee, 
Conqueress  of  Time  and  Door  of  Eternity. 
She  is  the  Spiritual  Force  of  Nature  (Pra- 
kriti),  she  is  the  Mother  of  the  Universe. 
Her  devotees  called  Shaktas  (Shakti-wor- 
shippers)  meditate  on  her  as  the  Great  Mother 
and  pray  to  her  for  her  grace,  as  a  child  talks 
to  its  mother  and  looks  up  to  her  for  help,  pro- 
tection and  sustenance.  When  the  most  spir- 
itual of  her  devotees  develop  the  same  natural 
love  for  and  unshaken  faith  in  her  as  those  of 
an  innocent  child  to  its  mother,  they  are 
blessed  with  her  last  grace.  They  are  helped 
to  Moksha  or  led  into  the  path  of  Krishna, 
this  last  the  greatest  of  all  her  gifts.  She,  as 
Yoga-Maya  (energy  of  the  highest  spiritual 
concentration),  holds  the  key  of  the  Gate  of 
Goloka,  Krishna's  Abode  of  Love-Bliss. 

260 


THE  ATOM'S  RETURN  JOURNEY. 

Vishnoo  is  the  sum  total  of  all  the  deities 
which  are  the  manifestations  of  his  powers 
and  attributes.  He  is  the  Parent  of  both  the 
Motherhood  and  Fatherhood  of  the  Universe 
— the  Spring  of  Creation  itself.  He  is  the 
Presiding  Deity  of  Sattwa  out  of  which  are 
born  Raja  and  Tama.  He  is  the  Preserver, 
the  Sustaining  Power  of  the  Universe.  He  is 
the  Way  to  Moksha,  His  Essence  is  the  Abode 
of  all  Salvation.  He  is  the  Outer  Form  of 
Krishna,  the  Form  through  wrhich  Krishna 
manifests  His  Will  and  becomes  the  Many 
from  the  One.  His  Abode,  called  Vaikuntha, 
the  Centre  of  his  All-Pervading  Essence,  is 
over  this  universe,  over  Brahma-Loka — Brah- 
ma's Abode.  He  is  the  last  but  one  Goal  of  all 
spiritual  aspirations.  He  is  the  Gate  of 
Krishna,  the  Last  Goal. 

The  upward  evolution  of  the  atom  from  the 
man-stage  has  to  pass  through  many  higher 
spiritual  stages  in  higher  and  higher  spheres. 
Interested  spiritual  culture,  by  which  I  mean 
spiritual  culture  with  a  view  to  enjoy  the  fin- 
est essence  of  sensuous  happiness  in  spheres 
higher  than  the  earth,  never  lifts  a  human 

261 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

soul  beyond  the  Bhuba  and  the  Swar,  the 
abode  of  the  gods.  The  Bhuba  sphere  is  just 
over  the  earth.  It  is  the  astral  sphere.  It 
is  peopled  by  semi-celestial  spirits  and  beings 
whose  bodies  are  made  mostly  of  ether,  air  and 
fire  and  the  finest  essence  of  water  and  earth ; 
hence  they  are  invisible  to  our  gross  physical 
eye.  They  are  so  light  that  the  air  to  them 
is  like  firm  land  to  us ;  they  walk  over  it  as  we 
walk  over  earth.  There  are  houses  and  roads 
in  this  sphere  as  on  earth,  as  also  in  the  Swar 
sphere.  Many  psychical  persons  have  now 
and  then  a  glimpse  of  the  Bhuba  sphere  and 
the  dwellers  therein.  One  of  my  students  in 
New  York,  the  truth  of  whose  visions  is 
known  to  many,  has  often  seen  these  airy 
houses,  roads  and  beings.  The  Swar  is  com- 
posed of  finer  material  than  the  Bhuba,  and  its 
atmosphere  is  more  sacred.  Selfish  spiritual 
culture  is  rewarded  by  a  term  of  residence  in 
the  Swar.  When  the  term  is  over  the  soul 
has  to  come  down  to  earth  again  to  be  reborn 
as  man. 

The  sonl  which  loves  and  cultivates  unsel- 

262 


THE  ATOM'S  RETURN  JOURNEY. 

fish  spirituality,  spirituality  for  spirituality's 
sake,  succeeds  when  it  has  no  desire  or  sym- 
pathy any  more  for  anything  earthly,  in  skip- 
ping over  the  Bhuba  and  Swar,  after  death, 
and  enters  and  becomes  a  dweller  in  the  Mahar 
sphere.  Such  a  soul  seldom  comes  back  to 
earth,  but  through  higher  development  attains 
to  the  Brahma  Loka  and  there  waits,  to  be  ab- 
sorbed or  immersed  in  Vishnoo's  Essence,  till 
the  time  of  the  Universal  (Natural)  Dissolu- 
tion through  which  it  reaches  its  goal. 

The  worshippers  of  Vishnoo  pray  for  one  of 
the  five  states  of  Moksha  (Salvation),  accord- 
ing to  the  preference  of  their  inclinations. 
These  five  states  of  Salvation  are  Salokya, 
Samipya,  Sarupya,  Sajujya  and  Sarshti. 
Salokya  is,  to  dwell  in  the  plane  of  Vishnoo. 
Samipya  is,  to  live  near  Vishnoo  as  a  servant. 
Sarupya  is,  to  live  with  Vishnoo  as  his  com- 
panion and  having  Vishnoo's  form  and  appear- 
ance. Sajujya  is,  to  remain  immersed  in 
Vishnoo's  Essence.  Sarshti  is,  to  possess  even 
the  powers  of  Vishnoo.  Those  who  attain  to 
the  first  three  states  of  Salvation  serve  as  mes- 
sengers of  Vishnoo,  and  at  times  act  as  me- 
263 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

diums  of  communication  between  Vishnoo  and 
the  dwellers  of  the  Universe,  while  some  of 
those  who  attain  to  the  last  two  states  come 
down  to  earth  only  from  time  to  time  as  Ava- 
tars, partial  Incarnations  of  Vishnoo  (God). 
These  have  developed  complete  God-conscious- 
ness and  after  being  immersed  in  the  Essence 
of  Vishnoo  for  eons  together,  they  have 
been  thoroughly  Vishnooized.  True,  they  were 
human  beings  before,  but  now  they  are 
Parts  of  God  Himself.  They  have  no  more 
recollection  of  their  former  existences.  There- 
fore, to  call  them  any  other  than  Vish- 
noo is  blasphemy.  When  the  affairs  of  the 
earth  are  in  chaos  and  humanity  in  general 
needs  spiritual  uplifting,  some  of  these  im- 
mersed souls  are  detached,  and  they  come 
down  to  our  sphere,  take  birth  and  walk 
among  us,  helping  us,  by  examples  and 
teachings,  to  right  actions  which  lead  to  Sal- 
vation. 


264 


SECTION  XXI. 

YOGA. 

THERE  are  five  processes  of  mental  discipline 
by  the  aid  of  which  the  human  soul  can  reach 
its  goal  quicker.  These  are  called  the  five 
paths  of  Yoga,  viz.,  Hatha,  Karma,  Raja, 
Gnana  and  Bhakti.  Yoga  means  Union.  The 
word  Yoga  is  the  original  of  its  corrupted 
English  form  "Yoke."  Yoga,  therefore,  means 
yoking  the  Mind  to  the  Spirit  of  God  by  con- 
centration. Hatha  Yoga  consists  in  cleaning 
and  disciplining  the  outer  and  inner  physical 
body  by  the  practice  of  certain  postures  of 
sitting,  processes  of  moving  the  muscles  and 
fixing  the  eye  upon  some  external  object  or 
the  tip  of  the  nose.  These,  in  time,  induce 
mental  poise.  Karma  Yoga  is  performing 
good  actions,  and  practising  spiritual  form- 
ulas which  contribute  to  the  purification  of  the 
mind  and,  finally  lead  to  the  unfoldment  of  the 
soul.  Raja  Yoga  is  stopping  the  functions  of 
the  mind's  volitions.  By  volitions  of  the  mind 
are  meant  thought-currents.  By  the  practice 
265 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  Raja  Yoga,  the  outflow  of  these  thought- 
currents  can  be  entirely  stopped  and  turned 
inwards  in  one  concentrated  stream  into  the 
soul.  The  main  process  of  shutting  in  the 
mind-currents  is  by  controlling  the  breath. 
The  action  of  our  breathing  upon  our  mind  is 
like  that  of  the  pendulum  of  a  clock  upon  the 
movements  of  its  hands.  As,  for  instance, 
the  quicker  the  pendulum  swings  the  faster 
the  movement  of  the  hands,  so,  the  quicker 
our  breathing,  the  more  rapid  the  action  of 
our  thought-currents.  By  controlling  the 
breath  by  certain  exercises,  prescribed  by  Raja 
Yoga,  one  can  make  his  breathing  slow  and 
thereby  diminish  the  speed  of  the  thought- 
currents.  During  these  breathing  exercises, 
the  mind  is  concentrated  upon  God  or  the 
Divine  Idea,  or  some  mystic  words  expressive 
of  the  Deity.  This  lessens  the  activity  of  the 
mind  which  then  gradually  experiences  a  calm- 
ness unfelt  before,  a  calmness  which  in  itself 
is  a  happiness  which  no  form  of  enjoyment  of 
material  pleasure  can  afford.  Calmness  of 
mind  develops  into  harmony,  the  result  of  the 
expression  of  the  Sattwa  attribute. 
266 


YOGA. 

There  are  five  kinds  of  mental  states : 
Murha,  Khipta,  Bikhipta,  Ekagra,  and  Samad- 
hi.  The  Murha,  ruled  by  predominant  Tama, 
is  generally  attracted  to  evil  objects  owing  to 
lack  of  discrimination.  Khipta  flits  from  one 
object  to  another  in  search  of  pleasure.  It  is 
ruled  by  predominant  Raja,  so  is  ever 
active  and  never  satisfied.  The  Bikhipta 
mental  state,  ruled  by  the  equal  combination  of 
the  three  attributes,  is  generally  like  Khipta, 
but  at  times  fixes  its  attention  inwards  though 
for  a  short  time  only.  When  the  Bikhipta 
is  helped  by  the  practice  of  concentration  into 
the  Ekagra  (one-pointed)  state,  then  it  is  that 
harmony  is  brought  about.  When,  by  con- 
stant practice,  the  one-pointed  mind  becomes 
unwaveringly  fixed  on  the  Deity  or  the  Idea 
of  the  Deity  gained  through  the  increasing 
illumination  of  the  Sattwa,  it  enters  into  the 
Samadhi  (Trance)  state,  the  state  of  Absolute 
absorption  into  the  Deity. 

The  practice  of  the  Raja  Yoga  has  been  for- 
bidden in  the  Shastras  in  the  Kali  Yuga  (Iron 
Age)  because,  in  this  age,  excepting  in  rare 
cases,  the  human  body  is  too  weak  and  delicate 
267 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

to  stand  the  hardships,  psychic  exertions  and 
physical  privations  of  its  practices,  and  be- 
cause an  adept  Yogi-Gooroo,  without  whose 
constant  help  in  every  detail  of  it  no  student 
can  attain  the  highest  result,  is  very  hard  to 
be  found.  Many  who  now  practice  it  under 
inexperienced  Gooroos  in  India  meet  early 
death  or  develop  incurable  diseases  or  even 
turn  insane.  A  moderate  amount  of  simple 
breathing  exercises  may  not  be  so  injurious  or 
fatal,  but  too  much  of  it  or  the  practice  of 
the  advanced  rules  ought  never  to  be  at- 
tempted, especially  in  the  West,  where  a 
proper  Gooroo  can  never  be  found  and  where 
most  people's  nerves  are  generally  shaky. 

Gnana  Yoga  is  an  entirely  mental  process 
of  Yoga,  a  process  of  discriminating  between 
the  Unsubstantial  and  the  Substantial  in  Na- 
ture and  concentrating  upon  the  only  Sub- 
stantial Essence  of  things  and  gradually  get- 
ting absolutely  absorbed  by  it.  The  keeping 
up  of  this  process  of  thought  in  an  unbroken 
stream  requires  living  a  life  of  simplicity,  soli- 
tude and  renunciation.  The  life  in  which  this 
thought-current  becomes  unbroken  is  the  last 
268 


YOGA. 

life,  last  incarnation  of  that  soul.  It  escapes 
rebirth  for  good  for  which  it  has  worked  for 
many  incarnations.  Its  separate  Ego  is 
merged  in  the  universal  Ego  and  finally  is  lost 
in  and  becomes  one  with  the  One-without-a- 
Second. 

Gnana  Yoga  belongs  to  the  school  of  the 
Vedanta  philosophy.  Vedanta  is  "Veda"  and 
"Anta"  which  means  "End,"  so  that  Vedanta 
means  End  of  the  Veda — the  Aim  or  Goal  of 
the  Veda;  and  the  word  Veda  is  the  original 
of  the  English  word  "Wisdom"  (Swedish,  Vis- 
dom)  from  Sanscrit,  "Vida,"  to  know.  Veda 
means  knowledge  of  the  Reality,  the  Truth. 
The  Vedanta  Aphorisms  of  Vedavyasa  are  but 
Indices  to  the  Principles  of  the  Upanishads — 
the  Wisdom  part  of  the  Veda.  There  are  two 
Schools  of  Vedanta,  the  Old  and  the  New. 
The  Old  possesses  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  Aphorisms,  the  New  is  deluded  by  their 
false  interpretations,  is  only  about  two  thou- 
sand years  old  and  has  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  adherents.  The  Old  school  is 
founded  on  Parinambad,  the  new  is  founded 
on  Vivartabad.  The  Old  school  holds  that 

269 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  universe  is  composed  of  the  ever  change- 
ful manifestations  of  the  Will  (Energy)  of  the 
One  Changeless  Deity  (Parinambad),  the 
New  calls  the  whole  universe,  in  fact,  all  that 
is  visible  and  perceptible,  Maya  (Illusion),  in 
the  sense  that  it  never  existed,  does  not  exist 
now  and  will  never  exist.  All  that  exists  is 
Brahm,  the  Divine  Essence,  and  we  are  That. 
All  else  is  illusion  wrought  in  our  mind 
through  ignorance,  just  as  the  mistaking  a 
piece  of  rope  lying  in  some  dark  place  for  a 
snake  is  due  to  the  illusion  of  the  darkness. 
This  theory  with  its  plausible  analogy  is  all 
wrong.  The  universe  is  not  all  illusion  though 
it  is  the  changeful  force-materialization  of  the 
Unchangeful  One  Substance.  The  force  or 
energy  or  light  or  reflection  of  a  substance  is 
inseparable  from  it  and  is  pervaded  by  it  and 
partakes  of  its  spirit.  This  materialized  force- 
reflection  of  Brahm  not  only  possesses  its  sub- 
stance at  bottom  but  must  be  called  a  part  of  it 
as  the  light  of  a  flame  or  reflection  of  a  light 
is  undeniably  its  part.  The  analogy  of  the 
snake  and  rope  is,  therefore,  not  true  of  God 
and  the  Universe :  The  snake  is  merely  the 

270 


YOGA. 

conjuration  of  the  darkness  and  not  born  of  the 
rope;  but  the  universe  is  born  of  Brahm  (the 
rope).     The  theory  that  it  is  born  of  the  illu- 
sion of  our  ignorance,  is  absurd  in  that  it  in- 
volves accepting  that  "ignorance"  to  be  some- 
thing self-existent,  that  it  has  an  independent 
existence,    separate    from   the   All-in-Ail,   the 
One-without-a-Second.     If  not,  whence  is  this 
"ignorance"  which  has  such  power  of  illusion 
over   our   mind   and   senses?       What   is    it? 
Whence  does   it  come?     The   Neo-Vedantist 
answers,  it  is  something  inexplicable,  His  Maya 
is  inexplicable — the  argument  of  one  in  dark- 
ness himself.    This  New  Vedantic  thought  has 
done  and  is  doing  more  harm  to  the  world  than 
any  other  religious  theory.    It  is  a  worse  delu- 
sion than  the  delusion  of  Maya. 


271 


SECTION   XXII. 

BHAKTI  YOGA. 

BHAKTI  Yoga  is  concentration  on  the  Deity 
through  Devotion,  the  best  and  highest  form  of 
Yoga,  higher  than  all  the  other  forms,  as 
Krishna  Himself  has  said  in  the  Bhagazrat 
Gita.  Devotion  is  the  full  fruition  of  spiritual 
concentration.  A  true  devotee  is  the  highest 
Yogi,  for  he  is  filled  with  humility,  and  sin- 
cere, abject  humility  is  the  expression  of  the 
sublimest  spiritual  nature;  it  is  "the  softened 
shadow"  as  the  Lord  says,  "that  is  cast  by  My 
Love."  Sincere  humility  springs  from  the 
clear  realization  of  the  Presence  of  God  in 
everything,  that  the  whole  universe  is  formed 
of  the  many  forms  of  the  One  Form  and  its 
Radiance.  And  with  that  never  fading  vision 
before  the  mind's  eye,  the  devotee  forgets  him- 
self and  stoops  low  at  the  feet  of  every  one 
and  at  everything  he  sees,  for  he  sees  in  them 
all  his  Deity. 

Bhakti  is  of  two  kinds,  Gnan-Bhakti   and 
Prem-Bhakti.     Gnan-Bhakti  is  devotion  aided 
272 


BHAKT1  YOGA. 

by  culture  of  wisdom,  its  Deity  is  some  in- 
carnation of  Vishnoo  and  its  goal  is  the  Abode 
of  Vishnoo  or  the  Essence  of  Vishnoo.  Prem 
Bhakti  is  devotion  through  Love — Causeless, 
Disinterested  Love,  love  for  love's  sake,  and  its 
Deity  and  Goal  is  Krishna — Absolute  Love. 
The  Path  of  Prem  Bhakti  lies  within  the  Path 
of  Gnan  Bhakti,  but  this  Path  within  the  Path 
is  hedged  in  high  to  shut  out  the  view  and 
sound  of  the  main  path.  The  devotee  of 
Prem  Bhakti  dedicates  all  his  knowledge,  wis- 
dom and  actions  to  Krishna,  the  spring  of  all 
Wisdom  and  Actions,  and  prays  Krishna  for 
His  love,  the  luxury  of  loving  Him  for  His 
dear  sake. 

The  Prem  Bhakta  wants  nothing  from  his 
Lord,  no  boon,  no  blessing,  material  or  celes- 
tial, not  even  Salvation  or  Mukti,  nothing,  noth- 
ing, save — the  blessing  of  being  filled  with  love 
for  Him.  He  prays  to  his  Lord :  "O  my  Krish- 
na !  It  matters  not  what  betides  my  body,  my 
life  or  my  earthly  circumstances,  or  in  what 
form  of  life  I  am  reborn,  even  if  it  be  that  of  a 
worm,  let  my  faith  and  love  be  fixed  in  Thee, 
my  Beloved.  Whatever  is  there  in  all  exist- 

273 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ence  compared  with  the  luxury  of  loving 
Thee?  Thou  art  the  sum-total  of  the  realiz- 
ation of  all  desires,  of  all  happiness,  Thou,  the 
Secret  and  Object  of  all  our  longings !" 

Such,  in  truth,  is  Krishna's  attraction  and 
more.  He  is  the  embodiment  of  the  concen- 
trated Beauty  and  Sweetness  of  all  the  Uni- 
verses, His  Eyes  and  Face  the  focus  of  the 
Love  that  fills  all  that  is.  Hence  this  Prem 
Bhakti  Path,  which  means  the  Path  of  Love's 
Devotion,  is  called  the  Path  of  Beauty  and 
Sweetness.  Beauty  and  Sweetness  are  co- 
existent, are  one  and  the  same  thing.  Beauty 
is  the  expression  of  Sweetness,  Sweetness  is 
the  Essence  of  Beauty,  and  Love  is  the  Parent 
of  both.  Krishna's  Form  and  Symmetry  are 
all  Ideals'  unapproachable,  inconceivable,  un- 
imaginable Ideal.  The  newest  rain-cloud* 
color  of  His  complexion  is  the  color  of  the  con- 
densed Ether  of  Ether — Love.  His  crown 
and  crest  of  peacock-feathers,  His  raiment  of 
molten  gold — the  color  of  attraction — His  long 


*The  color  of  the  newest  rain-cloud  of  India,  color 
of  the  sapphire  or  marine  blue,  are  vain  attempts  to 
indicate  Krishna's  color  and  complexion. 
274 


BHAKTI  YOGA. 

garland  and  ornaments  of  wild  flowers,  His 
jewel  Kaustubha  on  His  Breast  and  His  bam- 
boo flute  were  all  proud  contributions  of  Na- 
ture to  Her  Supreme  Lord.  If  we  can  imag- 
ine the  essence  of  the  purest  of  pure  love  con- 
densed into  a  substance  as  thick  as  flesh  and 
moulded  into  form,  we  can  then  have  some 
idea  of  the  material  of  Krishna's  Body, 
whether  in  Glory  or  on  earth.  It  is  a  Form 
which,  the  moment  you  produce  some  likeness 
of  it  in  imagination  thrills  you  with  ecstasy, 
for  it  is  Ecstasy  condensed. 

Krishna  is  best  worshipped  with  the  heart. 
Prayers  and  incantations  and  offerings,  with- 
out sincere  feeling,  do  not  reach  Him.  He 
responds  to  the  call  of  love  alone.  Call  Him 
from  the  innermost  depth  of  your  heart  with 
pure  love — love  unmixed  with  motive — with 
sincere,  artless  love  of  a  fond  baby  for  its 
mother,  and  He  will  appear  to  you  and  do 
whatever  you  want  Him  to  do.  Krishna  is 
your  veriest  own,  nearer  to  you  than  your 
nearest  relative,  your  only  true  friend  in  life 
and  Eternity.  He  is  dearer,  more  precious 
than  your  body  or  your  life  or  your  heart  for 

275 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

He  is  your  soul  and  soul  is  dearer  and  more 
precious  than  body,  life  or  heart.  It  is  Him 
you  have  been  searching  in  all  your  searchings 
in  life,  in  lives  you  have  lived  before,  and  Him 
will  you  search  in  lives  that  are  to  come  after 
this  life.  He  is  ever  with  you.  He  is  within 
you,  but  you  are  searching  for  Him  outside  of 
you — hence  you  miss  Him,  hence  you  run 
after  all  the  will-o'-the-wisps  of  life,  thinking 
these  will  give  you  the  joy  which  your  Only 
Beloved  and  Lover  alone  can  give.  No 
wonder  you  are  deceived,  depressed,  unsatis- 
fied— the  reward  of  chasing  the  shadow  of  the 
substance  that  lies  within  you,  the  reward  of 
chasing  the  rainbow  which  is  but  the  reflection 
of  the  Sun  of  your  soul's  sky. 

The  devotee  of  Krishna  meditates  on  Krish- 
na regarding  Him  in  one  of  the  four  human 
relationships,  whichever  suits  his  natural  in- 
clination best,  viz.,  Dasya  or  the  relationship 
of  a  Servant  to  his  Master,  Sakhya  or  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  Friend  to  his  Friend,  Batsalya 
or  the  relationship  of  a  Son  to  his  Parents  or 
Parents  to  a  Son,  and  Madhur  or  the  relation- 
ship of  a  Wife  to  her  Husband  or  of  a  loving 

276 


BHAKTI  YOGA, 

Woman  to  her  Lover.  These  four  kinds  of 
devotional  feelings  are  natural  in  man.  By 
"natural"  I  mean  born  from  Nature  of  which 
man  is  the  best  earthly  product.  But  where- 
from  has  Nature  derived  them?  From  her 
parent-source,  Krishna,  of  course.  So  these 
feelings  are  present,  in  their  absolute  perfec- 
tion, in  Krishna,  the  source  of  all  Life.  Flow- 
ing from  Krishna  into  His  Creation,  they  con- 
stitute the  cords  of  attachment  between  man 
and  man,  the  natural  bonds  of  union  between 
soul  and  soul,  the  natural  channels  of  com- 
munication between  man  and  his  Maker. 
They  are  the  invisible  wires  of  telegraphy  be- 
tween the  Central  Soul  and  its  branch  souls — 
between  the  Parent  Soul  and  its  offsprings. 
If  the  instruments  of  the  branch  offices  are 
rusty  and  out  of  order  they  cannot  transmit 
their  messages  to  the  main  office  or  receive 
messages  therefrom.  The  moment  they  are 
cleaned,  repaired  and  put  into  working  order, 
they  are  open  to  perfect  communication  once 
more. 

The  devotee  of  Krishna   cleans   the   rusty 
and  disordered  instrument  of  his  heart  by  cul- 
277 


SREE   KRISHNA. 

tivating  one  of  these  feelings  of  devotion  for 
Krishna.  And  the  moment  this  feeling  attains 
its  natural  state,  the  moment  it  becomes  ab- 
solutely sincere,  than  he  absorbs  and  is  filled 
with  absolute  Love  from  its  Primeval  Spring. 
Krishna  is  absolutely  divine  and  absolutely 
human,  for  it  is  perfect  humanity  that  is  per- 
fect divinity.  Krishna  is  Love  itself,  the  Love 
that  destroys  all  distance,  Love  that  draws  the 
Lover  and  the  Loved  closest  to  each  other.  It 
knows  no  ceremony,  knows  no  formal  respect. 
It  knows  no  motive.  Love  is  its  own  cause, 
motive  and  satisfaction.  Divinity  demands  our 
reverence  and  inspires  us  with  awe.  Despite 
its  strong  attraction  we  can  but  adore  it  from 
a  distance,  we  cannot  approach  it  too  near. 
But  Love  draws  us  to  its  bosom  and  holds  us 
close:  Love  is  a  Master  and  Love  is  a  Slave. 
It  knows  no  barrier,  sees  no  faults,  nay,  sees 
virtues  in  faults.  It  responds  to  its  own  clear 
call  or  vibrates  to  the  voice  of  its  own  in- 
spiration and  blesses  its  own  creation  with 
greater  gifts  of  its  own  wealth. 

Whichever  of  the  four  devotional  feelings 
towards  Krishna  the  Bhakta  (devotee)  culti- 
278 


BHAKTI  YOGA. 

vates,  it  must  reach  the  stage  of  unalloyed 
sincerity  to  be  rewarded  by  its  blissful  realiza- 
tion. The  loving  Servant  of  Krishna  must 
love  His  service  above  all  he  loves  and  holds 
dear.  The  devotee  who  wants  to  be  the  Friend 
and  Companion  of  Krishna  must  have  his  all- 
forgetting  Love  of  Krishna  pervaded  by  an 
uninterrupted  sense  of  equality  with  Him.  He 
may  serve  Him  as  a  slave,  but  it  is  the  service 
of  a  friend  who  is  more  than  a  slave  to  his 
friend.  The  devotee  who  wants  to  love  Krish- 
na as  a  Father  or  Mother  must  have  unwaver- 
ing sincerity  of  such  paternal  love  and  affec- 
tion. He  or  she  must  always  consider  him- 
self or  herself  superior  to  Krishna  whom  they 
must  regard  as  a  helpless  child  in  their  charge. 
This  true  parental  feeling  is  pervaded  by  the 
unconscious  spirit  of  spontaneous  service  and 
friendship,  for  no  friendship  and  service  can 
be  compared  with  those  of  parents.  The  same 
rules  apply  to  the  cultivation  of  the  filial  feel- 
ing of  devotion  to  Krishna.  The  fourth,  the 
feeling  of  a  loving  wife  to  her  lord  sums  up 
the  essence  of  all  the  foregoing  three  feel- 
ings. It  is  the  highest  and  tenderest  feeling 

279 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

of  devotion.  The  true  wife  is  the  servant, 
friend,  mother  and  lover  of  her  husband.  She 
is  his  slave,  equal  and  superior  by  virtue 
of  her  all-surrendering  love.  Every  form  of 
pure  love  is  self-surrender.  The  love  that 
knows  no  surrender  or  sacrifice  is  a  mockery. 
It  mocks  itself  more  than  its  object,  for  sacri- 
fice is  its  chief  test  and  best  expression.  Love 
that  only  loves,  if  loved,  is  pure  selfishness,  it 
is  self-deception.  But  the  love  that  loves  for 
its  own  sake  and  is  the  fullest  satisfaction  in 
itself,  the  love  that  loves  whoever  or  what- 
ever its  object  loves  is  the  Love  Absolute  that 
Krishna  is.  The  human  soul  that  develops  it, 
binds  Krishna  thereby  and  holds  Him  its 
prisoner  for  good.  When  that  Love  develops 
the  tenderness  of  a  loving  wife,  it  captivates 
the  Heart  of  hearts,  and  entrances  the  Soul  of 
souls,  Krishna. 

These  Vaishnav  forms  of  devotion  reached 
their  highest  degree  of  development  and  re- 
ceived their  greatest  impetus  on  the  appear- 
ance of  Sree  Chaitanya,  the  Fullest  Incarna- 
tion of  Krishna,  who  was  born  in  Nuddea,  on 
the  Ganges,  Bengal,  a  little  over  four  hundred 

280 


BHAKT1  YOGA. 

years  ago  and  flourished  for  nearly  half  a 
century.  He  was  Krishna  Himself  incarnated 
in  the  form  of  His  Greatest  Devotee.  Krishna 
is  the  Mystery  and  Chaitanya  is  its  Explana- 
tion. Whenever  Krishna  comes  to  earth  as 
the  Mystery  of  Love  in  the  Junction  Period 
of  Dwapar  and  Kali,  He  comes  again  in  the 
form  of  Chaitanya  as  the  Explanation  of  that 
Mystery,  five  thousand  years  after,  to  show 
to  mankind  the  Way  to  Himself  for  examples. 
Chaitanya's  love,  devotion  and  spirit- 
uality will  ever  remain  unparalleled.  He 
preached  Krishna,  the  Seed  and  Soul 
of  Love  Absolute,  and  while  preaching  he 
would  burst  forth  into  song  in  praise  of  Krish- 
na. Thus  singing  he  would  be  filled  with 
ecstasy  and,  in  its  fullness,  he  would  be  moved 
into  the  most  graceful  dance  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  now  shouting  the  Name  of  his  Lord 
and  anon  weeping  for  his  Lord's  grace,  his 
arms  and  whole  body  waving  and  q«ivering 
with  the  heaving  billows  of  his  heart's  love- 
ocean,  streams  of  which,  like  water  from 
many  fountains,  would  flow  from  his  eyes  in 
the  shape  of  tears.  And  in  those  tears,  stream- 

281 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ing  straight  from  his  eyes  to  the  ground,  all 
those,  who  catching  his  spirit  caught  also  his 
ecstatic  motion,  would  be  literally  bathed.  And 
all  India  was  "flooded,"  as  the  authoritative 
records  of  his  apostles  tell  us,  with  Chaitanya's 
Divine  Love,  and  millions  of  sinners  that  felt 
it,  were  borne  away  by  its  tide. 

Sree  Chaitanya  preached  and  proved  the 
potency  of  Krishna's  Name — that  His  Name 
is  the  Lord  Himself.  If  anybody  says  "Krish- 
na, Krishna"  mentally  or  loudly  and  con- 
centrates his  mind  on  it,  he  is  bound  to  ab- 
sorb its  Love-Nectar,  be  drunk  with  its  ecstasv, 
see  Krishna  in  Form  and  in  everything,  and 
finally  go  to  Goloka  after  passing  out  of  this 
life.  Hari  is  the  popular  Name  of  Krishna. 
It  means,  He  Who  steals  our  sins.  Chaitanya 
would  shout  "Hari,  Hari!"  or  "Haribole!" 
(say,  Hari)  and  vibrations  of  that  Name  would 
thrill  through  all  hearers  and  change  them 
into  pious  devotees.  Millions  upon  millions 
were  thus  saved  by  him,  millions  of  sinners 
turned  into  saints.  The  world  has  never  seen 
such  an  Avatar,  the  Incarnation  of  All-Love 
Krishna.  He  lived  the  most  blameless  life 

282 


BHAKT1  YOGA. 

from  childhood  to  his  disappearance  at  the 
age  of  forty-eight. 

Like  master,  like  servants.  His  Apostles 
were  of  such  spiritual  purity  and  sublimity 
that  it  would  be  hard  to  find  one  like  them 
even  in  India  of  the  past.  Any  of  them 
was  competent  to  save  a  whole  world. 
They  have  left  thousands  of  Books  on  Krishna 
and  Chaitanya's  Life  and  Teachings  which 
are  of  the  utmost  value  to  the  students  and 
adherents  of  all  religions  of  all  climes,  ages 
and  denominations.  Love  is  the  theme  of 
every  book,  and  it  is  difficult  to  resist  its  es- 
sence pouring  into  you  as  you  read  them. 

If  my  life  is  spared  by  the  Lord,  and  if  my 
Krishna  wills  it,  I  may  present  the  Life- 
Story  and  Teachings  of  Sree  Chaitanya  and 
his  apostles  to  the  Western  reader  in  a  short 
time.  In  that  book  a  detailed  exposition  of 
the  Vaishnav  religion  will  be  given,  an  ex- 
position which  may  interest  Christians.  The 
present  book  is  but  the  preliminary  part  of 
the  Chaitanya  book  I  intend  to  write,  for 
Chaitanya  cannot  be  understood  without  first 
understanding  Krishna  and  His  Leela  on 

283 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

earth.  Chaitanya  may  be  called  the  Indian 
Christ,  but  a  Christ  the  like  of  whom  has 
never  appeared  on  earth.  Chaitanya  did  not 
even  leave  his  Body  behind  when  he  left  this 
earth.  He  entered  one  morning  into  the 
Temple  of  Juggernath  and  disappeared — no- 
body knows  how  or  where. 


2S4 


SECTION  XXIII. 

VAISHNAV,    CHRISTIAN    OF    CHRISTIANS. 

THE  Krishna-Worshipper  is  either  a  house- 
holder or  a  hermit.  He  is  either  a  devotee 
who  cultivates  the  love  for  Krishna  amid 
the  duties  and  distractions  of  the  world  or 
a  devotee  who  leaves  the  temptations  and  tur- 
moil of  the  world  and  sojourns  in  some  sylvan 
retreat  in  the  holy  forest  of  Brindaban,  the 
earthly  abode  of  Krishna,  or  in  the  outskirts 
of  a  town  or  village  within  a  humble  mon- 
astry  composed  of  a  couple  of  huts  with  a 
little  flower  garden  fenced  around.  But  the 
most  advanced  Krishna  hermit  tarries  nowhere 
longer  than  a  few  days,  but  ever  roams  about 
in  the  land  sanctified  by  the  touch  of  the  Lotus 
Feet  of  his  Lord. 

The  formula  of  worship  and  religious  rules 
of  life  practised  by  both  the  hermit  and  House- 
holder are  practically  the  same.  It  consists 
of  mental  and  physical  practices,  more  mental 
than  physical.  The  moment  the  householder 

285  . 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

awakes  from  his  sleep  in  the  morning  he  utters 
the  name  of  Krishna  thus : 
"O     Krishna,     Krishna,     Krishna,     Krishna, 
Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna ! 

0  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krish- 
na, Krishna,  Krishna! 

Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna, 

Krishna,  nourish  me! 
Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna,  Krishna, 

Krishna,  protect  me! 

1  salute  Thee,  O  Krishna,  give  Thou  me  Thy 
Love !" 

Then  before  he  leaves  his  bed  and  puts  his 
foot  upon  the  earth,  he  prays  and  salutes 
Mother  Earth  thus: 

"O  thou  ocean-girdled,  mountain-breasted 
goddess!  I  salute  thee,  O  thou  Consort  of 
Vishnoo!  Forgive  me,  thy  suckling.  O 
Mother,  this  my  touching  thee  with  my  feet !" 

Then,  after  answering  the  calls  of  Nature, 
and  after  rubbing  his  hands  and  feet  with 
pure  earth  and  washing  them  for  many  times, 
he  takes  a  full  bath  either  in  the  Ganges  or  in 
any  river  if  it  is  near  by.  If  not,  he  bathes 
in  a  pond  or  at  a  well  or  at  home  with  two  or 

286 


CHRISTIAN   OF    CHRISTIANS. 

three  large  jarfuls  of  water.  While  bathing, 
he  utters  many  a  hymn  and  prayer  to  Krishna. 
After  the  bath,  he  wears  a  piece  of  dry  cotton 
cloth  which  has  been  washed  in  clean  water, 
or  a  piece  of  pure  silk  cloth.  He  then  goes 
to  a  flower  garden  and  culls  some  scented 
white  flowers  for  Krishna,  whom  he  then  sits 
to  worship  in  his  sacred  room.  He  mentally 
repeats  for  one  hundred  and  eight  times  the 
Mantram  he  has  received  from  his  Gooroo, 
counting  it  on  his  fingers.  Then  he  takes  a 
few  tiny  leaves  of  the  sacred  Tulsi  plant, 
smears  them  in  sandal-wood  paste  and,  clos- 
ing his  eyes,  mentally  offers  them  with  the 
sacred  white  flowers  to  the  Lotus  Feet  of  his 
Deity  upon  whom  his  mind  is  concentrated. 
This  concentration  is  helped  from  outside  by 
the  spiritual  vibrations  of  his  sacred  room  and 
the  inspiring  effect  of  the  perfume  of  the  in- 
cense, the  sandal-paste  and  the  flowers.  He 
then  chants  long  prayers  and  hymns  in  Sans- 
crit to  Krishna  and  His  Love-Energy,  Radha, 
and  to  all  the  saints  and  great  devotees  of 
Krishna  of  the  past,  begging,  them  for  their 
blessings  of  Krishna's  Grace.  He  then  sings 

287 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

songs  of  the  Lord's  Love,  and  tears  of  ecstasy 
roll  down  his  cheeks  as  he  sings  in  the  aban- 
don of  his  devotion  to  the  accompaniment  of 
a  pair  of  small  cymbals  he  keeps  striking  to 
keep  time. 

The  Mantram  is  composed  of  three,  four  or 
five  Sanscrit  words  beginning  with  what  is 
called  the  Seed  Word  with  the  Name  of 
Krishna  and  a  dedicatory  word  attached  to  it. 
The  Seed  Word  is  the  Seed  of  Krishna-Love. 
It  awakens  in  the  heart  spiritual  passion.  This 
Seed  Word,  if  mentally  repeated  with  intense 
concentration,  bursts  open  the  shell  of  the 
Sound-Form  of  Krishna — His  Name — which 
contains  the  Nectar  of  Absolute  Love.  The 
word  "Sanscrit"  means  pure,  refined.  The 
Sanscrit  language  is  the  language  of  the  pure, 
undefiled  voice  of  Nature.  Hence  it  is  called 
the  "language  of  the  gods"  who  are  repre- 
sentatives of  Nature's  attributes.  These  at- 
tributes are  blendings  of  forces.  Each  force 
has  a  name  (sound),  a  form  and  a  quality. 
A  man  in  intense  pain  expresses  it  in  such 
sounds  as  "Oh-h!"  "Ah-h!"  This  "Oh-h" 
or  "Ah-h"  may  be  called  the  sound  (voice) 
288 


CHRISTIAN    OF   CHRISTIANS. 

of  pain,  the  contortions  of  the  face  the  ex- 
pression of  its  form  and  the  feeling  it  pro- 
duces is  its  quality.  The  quality  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  force  called  pain  and  its  sound 
and  sign  (form)  are  its  expressions.  If  there 
were  a  miscroscope  powerful  enough  to  reveal 
to  our  view  the  figures  which  sound-vibra- 
tions create  on  ether,  we  would  then  find  that 
the  above-mentioned  sound-expressions  of 
pain  create  forms  in  ether  much  like  the  com- 
bined letters  "Oh-h"  and  "Ah-h."  This 
means  that  it  is  from  the  impressions  of  sound 
vibrations  on  Ether  that  characters  of  all  lan- 
guages have  been  formed ;  the  pictures  reflect- 
ing themselves  on  the  inventor's  mind  through 
the  medium  of  its  subtle  force  called  inspir- 
ation. 

The  characters  (Sanscrit,  "charitra")  of  the 
Sanscrit  language,  the  parent  language  of  all 
languages,  are  born  with  creation.  They  are 
entities  in  Nature,  form-expressions  of  her 
forces.  They  are  eternal  and  indestructible 
— "akshara,"  as  characters  are  called.  The 
vowels  are  masculine  forces,  the  consonants 
are  feminine  forces.  The  masculine  charac- 

289 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ters  (vowels)  are  independent,  the  feminine 
characters  (consonants)  are  dependent.  The 
vowels  can  be  pronounced  by  themselves,  the 
consonants  can  only  be  pronounced  when 
united  with  the  vowels.  The  vowels  are  the 
expressions  of  the  Essence  of  the  Deity 
(Krishna),  the  consonants  are  the  expressions 
of  the  Will-Force  of  the  Deity  ("Prakriti," 
that  which  procreates),  Nature.  Nature  is 
born  of  Sound,  the  attribute  of  Ether,  (Akas) 
which  was  the  first  manifestation  of  creation. 
That  first  sound  was  "AUM" — mispelled  and 
mispronounced  in  English  as  "Om."  The  vowel 
A,,  (pronounced  "Au"  in  Sanscrit),  the  initial 
letter  of  "AUM"  is  the  parent  of  all  letters 
and  languages.  This  "AUM"  in  sound  repre- 
sents the  distant  vibrations  of  Krishna's  Flute, 
the  Music  of  Love,  while  its  character-form  in 
Sanscrit  resembles  the  Form  of  Krishna  play- 
ing on  His  Flute  as  the  reader  will  see  from 
the  little  outline  picture  of  Krishna  with  its 
back-ground  of  "AUM"  in  Sanscrit  character 
printed  on  the  title-page  of  this  book.  This 
is  the  mystery  of  what  Krishna  Himself  says 
in  the  Gita,  "I  am  the  Word  AUM." 

290 


CHRISTIAN   OF   CHRISTIANS. 

The  different  combinations  of  the  other 
Sanscrit  characters  (forms  of  natural  forces), 
called  words,  represent,  similarly,  pictures  of 
sound-forms  of  different  attributes  and  ob- 
jects. Sanscrit  words,  in  fact,  are  sound- 
shells  which  hold  within  them  essences  of  the 
attributes  they  represent  and  the  objects  they 
signify.  The  letters  K,  R,  I,  SH,  N,  A  joined 
together  form  the  word  Krishna,  which  is  the 
sound-shell  of  the  Essence  of  Love,  Nature's 
Absolute  Attribute,  produced  by  the  fusion 
of  the  forces  of  which  the  composing  char- 
acters are  sound-forms.  When  frequently  re- 
peated together  with  the  Love-Passion  Seed 
word,  its  vibrations,  after  purifying  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  mind,  illumine  in  time  its 
inner  chamber,  the  heart,  which  is  the  door  of 
the  soul,  and  fills  it  with  the  ecstasy  of  Bliss. 

The  Tulsi  plant  is  the  most  spiritual  plant 
in  the  world,  hence  its  leaf  is  the  best  medium 
for  conveying  prayers,  especially  when  it  is 
smeared  with  sandal-wood  paste,  the  perfume 
of  which  is  much  like  the  aroma  of  the  Lord's 
Body. 

But  this  morning  worship  is  not  all  that  the 
291 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

householder  Vaishnav  performs  to  attain  to 
the  love  of  Krishna.  He  eats  or  drinks  noth- 
ing without  first  offering-  it  through  some 
mystic  formula  to  Krishna,  and  his  food  is 
pure  vegetables,  his  drink  is  pure  water.  In 
the  evening,  he  joins  other  Vaishnavs  to  talk 
of  Krishna,  hear  of  the  sacred  earthly  acts  of 
Krishna,  sing  of  Krishna,  and,  when  the  spirit 
of  song  moves  him,  he  dances  with  others  in 
ecstasy.  Besides  these  practices  he  repeats 
many  thousand  times  the  name  of  Krishna 
over  his  Tulsi  rosary.  In  fact,  he  never 
misses  any  means  or  opportunity  to  keep  alive 
an  unbroken  Krishna-consciousness,  the  result 
of  which  is  that  he  enjoys  the  joy  of  Goloka 
here  on  earth  in  this  earthly  body.  He  is  re- 
warded with  the  foretaste  of  what  he  seeks 
to  enjoy  after  he  lays  down  his  physical  body. 
This  is  enjoyed  by  the  hermit  Vaishnav, 
who  generally  lives  in  Brindaban,  in  a  higher 
degree.  He  is  unhampered  by  all  the  disturb- 
ances and  difficulties  of  the  householder,  and 
so  he  devotes  every  moment  he  breathes  to 
the  service  of  his  Krishna.  He  has  renounced 
the  world  and  with  it  all  its  thoughts.  From 

292 


CHRISTIAN    OF   CHRISTIANS. 

the  earliest  morning  up  to  very  late  at  night 
he  prays,  chants,  talks,  hears,  reads,  sings  and 
dances  by  turns.  He  eats  but  once  and  that 
very  little,  a  few  wee  bits  of  unleavened 
bread  begged  from  pious  homes.  His  only 
world's  goods  are  the  scanty  clothes  on  his 
body,  his  earthen  water  bowl  and  his  volume  of 
scriptures.  He  has  made  peace  with  the 
whole  world  by  his  humility.  He  has  nothing 
but  blessings  for  all,  sincere  blessings  even  in 
return  for  curses,  and  prostrates  at  full  length 
prone  to  the  ground  before  everyone.  He 
follows  the  saying  of  the  Lord  Chaitanya  that 
a  Vaishnav  should  be  lowlier  than  a  blade  of 
grass ;  more  forbearing  and  charitable  than 
a  tree,  which  spreads  its  shade  and  offers  its 
fruits  even  to  one  who  cuts  down  its  branches ; 
should  never  seek  respect  for  himself  but  pay 
respect  even  to  those  who  are  respected  by 
none ;  that  a  Vaishnav  should'  at  all  times  sing 
of  Krishna.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of 
such  Vaishnavs,  both  male  and  female,  can 
be  found  to-day  in  the  Holy  Land  of  Brinda- 
ban  and  the  Holy  City  of  Nuddea,  the  birth- 
place of  Chaitanya,  whose  Christ-spirit  and 

293 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

ecstatic  life  are  unparalleled  in  the  religious 
history  of  any  other  country,  ancient  or  mod- 
ern. They  represent  demonstrated  living 
proofs  of  the  power  of  the  Lord's  Name  upon 
the  human  mind. 


294 


SECTION   XXIV. 

KRISHNA   LEELA. 

THIS  Krishna,  the  Lord  of  Absolute  Love,  the 
Seed  and  Soul  of  the  Universe,  comes  down 
to  this  earth  to  serve  and  inspire  men  with 
His  Love  once  in  every  Manwantara,  once  in 
every  71  Divine  Cycles,  that  is,  once  in  every 
300,000,000  of  our  lunar  years  or  more.  Every 
Universe,  of  His  countless  Universes,  likewise 
has  its  turn  of  being  blessed  by  His  visit  as 
an  Incarnation,  once  in  a  long  period.  This 
Universe  of  ours  is  the  smallest  of  these  Uni- 
verses and  its  turn  of  Krishna's  Incarnation 
comes  off  during  the  Junction  Period  of  the 
Copper  and  Iron  Ages  of  the  28th  Divine 
Cycle  of  every  Manwantara.  This  being  the 
Iron  Age  of  the  28th  Divine  Cycle  of  this 
Manwantara  the  Lord  blessed  this  earth  with 
His  Personal  Presence  5,000  years  ago,  His 
birth  taking  place  within  the  appointed  Junc- 
tion Period. 

Avatars  that  come  to  earth  to  save  man- 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

kind  and  protect  the  good  from  the  bad,  the 
Srimdd  Bhdgavat  says,  are  innumerable ;  they 
are  either  partial  manifestations  or  aspects  of 
Vishnoo,  "but  Krishna  is  Lord  God  (Bha- 
gavan)  Himself,"  the  Supreme  Deity  of  whom 
Vishnoo  Himself  is  the  Fourth  Manifestation. 
Nobody  knows  exactly  when  Krishna  will 
come,  for  even  Brahma,  the  operating  creator, 
knows  it  not.  Brahma  only  sees  him  for  a 
second  once  in  a  long  while,  flashing  through 
his  meditation  like  a  lightning  flash.  When 
Krishna  came  this  last  time  on  earth  with  His 
Second  Manifestation,  Sankarsana  (who  was 
born  as  His  Elder  Brother,  Balaram),  the  time 
was  ripe  for  an  incarnation  of  Vishnoo.  But 
as  the  moon  and  stars  are  covered  by  the  efful- 
gence of  the  Sun,  the  Avatar  of  Vishnoo  could 
not  appear  separately,  so  he  was  merged  in 
Krish'na — the  part  was  swallowed  by  the 
whole. 

The  story  of  the  earthly  career  of  Krishna, 
given  in  the  Second  Part  of  this  book,  is  the 
story  of  the  All-Love  Krishna  of  Braja.  This 
All-Love  Krishna  was  the  Krishna  of  Brinda- 
ban,  also  called  Braja,  the  land  where  He 

296 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

played  and  roamed,  where  He  went  through 
His  earthly  career  up  to  the  age  of  eleven 
when  He  left  Brindaban  for  Mathura.  The 
Krishna  of  Brindaban  is  the  Fullest  Mani- 
festation of  Krishna,  the  Fullest  Expression  of 
His  All-Love-Self.  Hence  the  Krishna  of 
Brindaban  is  called  the  Fullest  Incarnation, 
which  means  All  Krishna,  the  Krishna  of  All- 
Love.  The  Krishna  of  Mathura  is  called 
Fuller  Krishna,  which  means  three-quarters 
Krishna  and  one-quarter  Vishnoo.  And  the 
Krishna  of  Dwaraka,  half  Krishna  and  half 
Vishnoo,  is  called  Full  Incarnation  of  Krishna. 

Krishna  being  All  Love,  He  knows  nothing 
but  Love,  gives  and  accepts  nothing  but  Love, 
acts  nothing  but  Love,  breathes  nothing  but 
Love,  speaks  nothing  but  Love. 

The  Asuras  that  He  killed  were  not  killed 
by  Him,  but  by  the  Incarnation  of  Vishnoo 
which  was  within  Him,  and  His  part  in  those 
actions  was  to  send  the  souls  of  those  Asuras 
to  His  Absolute  Love  Realm,  a  reward  re- 
served for  His  highest  lovers  and  devotees, 
a  kindness  for  enemies  which  Krishna  alone 
can  feel  and  show.  Krishna  has  no  power 
297 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

even  to  hurt  a  fly,  for  He  is  nothing  but  Love 
Itself,  and  does  not  know  anything  else  but 
Love.  This  much  can  be  said  about  Krishna's 
participation  in  these  what  seemed  to  be  acts 
of  killing,  that  the  powers  of  Vishnoo  within 
Him  that  committed  them,  found  His  Body 
the  most  perfect  medium  for  their  operations. 
One  word  of  explanation  is  necessary  here 
as  to  who  the  Asuras  were  and  how  they  could 
assume  such  shapes.  These  mentions  of 
Asuras  and  demons  in  the  Hindoo  books  preju- 
dice the  unknowing  and  unthinking  Western 
minds  against  the  veracity  of  Hindoo  histo- 
rians and  incline  them  to  think  that  ancient 
Hindoo  history  are  mixed  with  myths  and 
fables.  A  little  calm  and  intelligent  thinking 
ought  to  correct  the  mistakes  of  such  hasty 
judgment.  Modern  science,  too,  is  daily  pav- 
ing the  way  to  belief  in  things  which  even  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  were  thought  absurd 
and  impossible.  Science  is  proving  the  fact 
of  the  unlimited  potentialities  of  the  human 
mind.  Mind-force  is  at  present  the  subject  of 
all  the  most  advanced  Western  scientists  and 
philosophers.  When  these  will  succeed  in  dis- 
298 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

covering  the  laws  and  truths  of  the  mental 
plane,  as  they  are  now  doing  of  the  material 
plane,  no  facts  of  Hindoo  history  or  of  the 
histories  of  ancient  times  will  strike  modern 
man  as  mythical  or  absurd. 

The  Asuras  were  the  psychics  of  the  ancient 
times.  They  cultivated  their  mind-force  in 
order  to  use  it  for  personal  aggrandizement. 
They  were  Yogis,  but  their  Yoga  was  divorced 
from  pure  spirituality,  because  their  object  was 
not  spiritual.  All  they  wanted  was  power  by 
which  to  overpower  others  and  keep  them 
under  subjection  for  their  own  earthly  benefit. 
Some  of  them  were  exceptions  to  the  rule; 
they  cultivated  their  Sattwic  powers  to  some 
extent  along  with  the  development  of  Rajasic 
powers.  These  became  great  heroes  in  battles 
and  some  of  them  made  very  good  kings. 
Others  developed  merely  Rajasic  and  Tamasic 
powers  of  the  mind  and  became  tyrants  and 
oppressors  of  all  good  people.  Wherever 
and  whenever  the  earth  groaned  under  the 
burden  of  their  sins,  partial  incarnations  of 
Yishnoo  came  down  to  earth  to  destroy  them 
and  bring  peace  and  goodwill  among  mankind 

299 


SREE    KRISHNA. 

once  more.  But  those  Asuras  who  had  only 
their  Tamasic  (dark)  mind-force  developed, 
were  the  lowest  of  them  all.  Their  minds 
were  all  dark  and  their  deeds  were  all  black. 
f  Their  natural  inclination  was  to  do  mischief 
to  people  for  the  sake  of  the  mischief  itself. 
These  were  called  demons.  These  demons  can 
be  found  reborn  among  us  all,  in  the  most 
advanced  centres  of  civilization,  but  they  are 
now  shorn  of  their  former  psychic  force.  The 
mind's  natural  inclination,  however,  is  still  in 
them.  They  take  to  external  means  to  satisfy 
this  inclination  of  killing  or  hurting  or  doing 
mischief  for  the  sake  of  the  act  itself.  For- 
merly their  dark  mental  powers  were  their  most 
potent  weapons.  Through  those  psychic 
powers  they  could  transform  themselves  into 
any  shape  they  concentrated  upon,  and  if  they 
failed  to  assume  the  form  of  a  saint  or  a  god, 
it  was  because  they  could  not  grasp  the  idea 
of  the  personality  of  such  pure  souls  with 
their  impure  minds.  To  assume  the  form  of 
a  beast  was  the  easiest  thing  for  them,  because 
they  were  nothing  but  human  beasts  in  their 
nature.  They  could  also  assume  elemental 

300 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

forms  too,  such  as  a  whirlwind,  etc.,  as  in 
Krishna  Leela.  The  modern  Asuras  cannot 
do  any  such  thing  because  their  mind-forces 
are  scattered  and  distracted.  The  chief  cause 
why  people  generally  cannot  be  a  high  yogi  or 
a  black-psychic  demon  is  the  density  of  Raja 
and  Tama  that  at  present  pervades  Nature,  of 
which  all  beings  are  parts  and  products,  which 
disturbs  concentration. 

The  holding  of  the  hill  on  the  point  of  the 
little  finger  of  the  left  hand,  as  Krishna  did, 
was  not  a  very  great  deed  for  Krishna  to  per- 
form. This  act  can  be  performed  by  some 
of  the  Lords  of  Yoga.  The  Yogi,  when  he 
becomes  an  adept,  inherits  the  partial  attain- 
ment of  the  eight  great  powers  (siddhis), 
which  are  in  their  fully  normal  states  in  Vish- 
noo  and  in  lesser  degree  in  those  who  remain 
merged  in  the  Essence  of  Vishnoo  and  are 
sent  therefrom  to  earth  to  serve  mankind  as 
Avatars.  These  powers  are  (i)  Anima,  the 
power  of  becoming  as  small  as  an  atom;  (2) 
Mahima,  the  power  of  becoming  increased  in 
size;  (3)  Laghima,  the  power  of  becoming  as 
light  as  desired;  (4)  Prapti,  to  possess  the 

301 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

power  of  the  gods  who  are  the  presiding  deities 
of  the  senses ;  (5)  Prakamya,  the  power  of  en- 
joying and  sensing  all  objects  seen  or  unseen; 
(6)  Ishita,  or  power  over  the  forces  of  the 
Divine  Will  and  over  the  lower  forces  of  other 
beings;  (7)  Vasita,  non-attachment  to  objects 
and  (8)  Kamavasayita,  the  power  of  attain- 
ing all  desires. 

Besides  these  the  high  Yogi  may  attain  to 
ten  other  powers  of  the  Cardinal  Attributes, 

(1)  Cessation  of  hunger  and  thirst;  (2)  Hear- 
ing from  a  distance;  (3)  Seeing  from  a  dis- 
tance;  (4)   Moving  the  body  with  the  speed 
of  the  mind;  (5)  Assuming  any  form  at  will; 
(6)  Entering  into  any  other  body;  (7)  Dying 
at  will;    (8)    Playing  with  celestial  damsels; 
(9)  Attaining  wished-f or  objects;  (10)  Power 
of  irresistible  command. 

Five  other  minor  powers  are    (i)    Know- 
ledge of  the  present,  the  past  and  the  future ; 

(2)  Control  over  the  Opposites,  such  as  heat 
and  cold,  joy  and  sorrow,  etc. ;  (3)  Knowledge 
of  another's  mind ;  (4)  Suspending  the  action 
of  fire,  sun,  water,  poison,  etc. ;  (5)  Invincibil- 
ity. 

302 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

These  powers  serve  the  Lord  in  His  Leelas 
as  humble  slaves,  whether  he  is  conscious  of 
them  or  not.  Leela  means  action  of  God  In- 
carnate. The  Rash  Dance  with  the  Gopis  is 
the  greatest  Leela  of  Krishna.  It  was  the 
manifestation  of  the  greatest  might  of  His 
Love,  the  might  possessed  by  the  Supreme 
Being  alone,  by  the  Lord  of  the  Lords  of 
Yoga,  by  the  Supreme  Source  of  Yoga  itself. 
Gopi  means  a  milkmaid.  But  the  milkmaids 
of  Braja  were  extraordinarily  spiritual  beings 
born  as  milkmaids  to  serve  the  Lord  in  His 
Earthy  Leela.  The  chief  of  the  Gopis  is 
Radha,  the  Consort  of  Krishna  in  Glory  and 
on  earth.  "Radha"  means  Adoration  or  Love- 
Devotion.  Radha  is  the  embodied  manifesta- 
tion of  Krishna's  Love-Principle,  the  Energy 
of  His  Soul,  the  Principle  in  Krishna  which 
sets  His  Love  into  motion.  Radha  is  inside 
of  Krishna  as  this  Principle  of  Love-Energy 
and  she  is  outside  of  Krishna  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  that  Principle.  Radha  is  the  First 
Active  Principle  of  Naure,  the  Active  Love- 
Principle  which  unconsciously  gives  birth  to 
creation  and  pervades  it  as  the  purest  spirit- 

303 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

ual  energy.  Like  Krishna  she  is  above  and 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  creative  Cardinal  At- 
tributes. Krishna  is  the  Soul.  Radha  is  the 
Heart-Soul  and  her  eight  chief  companions 
are  the  Eight  chief  Devotional  Aspects,  and 
the  other  Gopis  the  inclinations  and  minor 
attributes  of  Her  Ensouled  Mind.  Radha  and 
her  chief  companions  are  Krishna's  constant 
companions  in  Goloka.  They  came  with  Him 
from  Glory  and  were  born  as  Gopis  in  Brinda- 
ban.  Other  Gopis  who  were  in  the  Rash 
Dance  were  incarnations  of  Vedic  Hymns  and 
Truths  which,  as  I  have  ere  now  explained 
in  the  cases  of  Nature's  attributes  and  forces, 
are  entities  in  Nature,  the  form-centres  of 
Nature's  purest  sentiments  and  conceptions. 
Other  Gopis  were  incarnations  of  goddesses, 
the  presiding  deities  of  Nature's  spiritual 
forces  and  attributes,  while  others  were  in- 
carnations of  some  of  the  highest  illuminated 
male  Saints  (Rishis)  who  had  prayed  for  agt 
and  ages  in  every  birth  to  serve  the  Lord  per- 
sonally with  the  tender  devotion  of  a  loving 
woman.  The  love  of  these  Gopis  for  Krishna 
was  absolutely  selfless.  They  loved  Him  for 

304 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

the  sake  of  the  spontaneous,  causeless  love  they 
felt  for  Him  and  which  His  Personality  in- 
spired in  them,  for  Krishna  was  that  Causeless 
Love  Itself.  The  Rash  Dance  represented  the 
vibrations  of  the  Soul-absorbed  Mind,  vibra- 
tions which  filled  the  universe  with  the  nectar 
of  Bliss  and  destroyed  its  Karma  of  a  whole 
Kalpa,  the  Karma  which  formed  its  Prarabhda 
for  the  time. 

Krishna  danced  separately  with  each  Gopi. 
Each  Gopi  had  her  own  Krishna  beside  her. 
One  Krishna  became  as  many  as  there  were 
Gopis  and  yet  it  was  the  Self-Same  Krishna. 
The  One  Soul  played  like  So  Many  Souls 
with  so  many  hearts  and  yet  the  hearts  saw 
but  that  One  Soul.  Each  Gopi  saw  only  her 
own  Krishna  and  was  unconscious  of  any  other, 
as  she  danced,  absorbed  in  that  Krishna,  round 
and  round,  arms  round  necks,  eyes  into  eyes, 
all-forgetting-,  the  world  forgot,  round  and 
round  in  the  whirl  of  ecstasy,  afloat  on  the 
waves  of  Love  that  is  Bliss — round  and  round 
with  that  One  Krishna,  the  All-in-All  of  the 
heart  and  existence — round  and  round,  the 
lover  and  the  loved,  the  little  soul  twining 

305 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

round  the  Great  Soul,  the  Great  Soul  pouring 
Its  Nectar  into  the  little  soul. 

Ignorant  writers  and  prudish  religionists  of 
the  West  have  dared  to  call  this  Gopi-Leela 
of  Krishna  shocking  to  all  religious  sense,  in 
the  face  of  the  fact  that  two  hundred  and  odd 
millions  of  Hindoos  of  the  present  day  and 
myriads  of  millions  of  Hindoos  of  the  past — 
Hindoos  whose  giant  intellect  and  all-towering 
height  of  spirituality  the  world  of  to-day  are 
beginning  to  wonder  at — call  this  Leela  the 
most  transcendental  of  all  Divine  deeds  that 
have  ever  been  performed  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  According  to  these  little  critics  of  the 
greatest  Avatar  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  that 
Supreme  Deity  cannot  possess  any  other  senti- 
ments of  love  than  those  of  a  Father  and  a 
Saviour,  that  God  ought  not  to  feel  or  show 
the  love  of  a  husband  for  his  wife  or  of  a 
lover  for  his  lady-love.  If  this  be  a  fact,  will 
they  answer  the  question  as  to  whence  has 
man  got  these  sentiments,  if  not  from  his 
Maker  of  whom  he  is  but  an  imperfect  image  ? 
Whence  has  he  got  them  if  not  from  the  Source 
of  Creation  itself,  of  which  he  is  such  a,  tiny 

306 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

part  and  product?  This  denial  to  God  of  the 
possession  of  a  lover's  sentiment  implies  an 
impertinence  which  God  alone,  out  of  His  in- 
finite affection  for  His  creatures,  can  pardon. 
It  only  betrays  the  dense  ignorance  of  these 
critics  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  laws  of 
creation  and  of  the  relations  of  creation  with 
its  Creator. 

Nature  (Creation)  is  the  materialized  Will- 
Force  of  God.  The  Will-Force  of  God  is  a 
reflection  of  God  Himself — the  objectified 
phases  of  the  semblance  of  manifoldness  of  the 
Absolute  One.  God  is  the  husband,  and  the 
Energy  of  His  Will,  Nature,  is  His  wife.  God 
is  the  Lover  and  Nature  is  His  loving  Lady- 
love. By  His  All-pervading  Essence,  the  only 
Support  and  Sustenance  of  Nature,  He  clasps 
His  Lady-love  to  His  bosom  and  dances  with 
her  to  the  intricate  steps  of  the  music  of  her 
Laws.  This  is  His  Rash  Dance  in  the  aggre- 
gate, the  Rash  Dance  that  is  being  performed 
every  moment  within  Nature  though  hidden 
from  our  outlooking  physical  vision.  What  is 
true  of  the  great  Universe  is  true  also  of  its 
miniature,  man.  Within  our  heart  of  heart 
307 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

is  the  forest  of  Brindaban  in  which  the  micro- 
scopic blue  river  of  love,  Jumna,  flows,  lap- 
ping with  thrills  of  joy  the  bank  of  the  bow- 
ery lawn  where  Krishna — our  Soul — with  His 
Gopis — our  ensouled  mental  aspirations — is 
performing  His  ever-favorite,  never-ending 
Rash  Dance.  And  we  are  unconscious  of  it  all, 
because  our  mind's  outer  ken  is  employed  out- 
side of  us  with  outer  objects.  If  we  can  with- 
draw the  mind's  vision  from  outwards  and 
direct  it  into  the  depth  of  our  heart  then  will 
belief  come  in  the  Rash  Dance  of  Krishna  with 
its  practical  realization.  We  are  then  of  Braja 
and  each  of  us,  of  the  enlightened  inner  eye, 
a  dancing  Gopi — male  or  female  whatever  we 
may  be  externallv.  it  matters  not.  We  are  all 
Gopis,  human  male  or  human  female,  we  are 
all  spiritually  feminine,  for  Krishna  alone  is 
the  One  Male  and  we  all,  particles  of.  Nature, 
are  all  female.  We  are  all  the  lady-loves,  the 
brides  and  wives  of  our  One  Husband,  Lover 
and  Beloved — Krishna.  In  the  working  out 
of  the  ever-beneficial  laws  of  Inner  Nature — 
the  laws  that  throb  for  the  weal  of  mankind 
— this  innermost  performance  of  Nature's 
308 


KRISHNA  LEELA. 

constant  Rash  Dance  with  her  Lord  is  re- 
flected for  a  time  upon  her  outer  surface  to  fill 
outer  Nature  and  mankind  with  the  ecstasy 
of  its  supremest  spirituality,  the  blessings  of 
Absolute  Love. 

The  twelve  chief  boy-companions  of  Krish- 
na in  Brindaban  came  with  Him  from  Glory 
where  they  are  His  constant  companions, 
while  the  other  cow-boys  were  the  incarnations 
of  the  gods  and  highly  spiritual  saints.  The 
Kadamba-tree,  under  which  Krishna  usually 
played  His  flute,  is  a  representation  in  physical 
form  of  the  Tree  of  Life  and  the  flute's  dear 
strains  the  music  of  the  soul.  As  Krishna  and 
His  Companions  are  constant,  so  are  His  Lee- 
las  (acts)  constant.  They  can  be  seen  now  by 
any  devotee  possessed  of  the  requisite  vision. 

With  these  words  I  humbly  introduce  the 
reader  to  the  Nectar-Career  of  Krishna  on 
earth  embodied  in  the  following  pages.  Let 
every  reader  read  it  with  an  open  mind  and  the 
Nectar  is  sure  to  flow  into  his  soul  through 
that  mind. 


309 


SREE    KRISHNA 
THE     LORD    OF     LOVE 

PART  II. 


SREE    KRISHNA 

THE  LORD  OF  LOVE 


BABA  PREMANAND  BHARATI 


PUBLISHED  BY 


THE   KRISHNA  SAMAJ 

NEW    YORK 


Copyright   1 904 
BV 

BABA    PREMANAND    BHARAT1 


S.     L.     PARSONS    fc    CO.,    PRINTERS,    NEW    YORK 


KRISHNA. 


To 

THE  LOTUS  FEET 

OF 
KRISHNA  MY   BELOVED 

THIS  GARLAND 
WOVEN  WITH  FLOWERS 

OF 
HIS  OWN  GIFT 

Is  OFFERED 

FOR  THE  APPRECIATION  OF 
THE  SOULFUL 
OF  His  CREATION 


PROEM. 

I  BOW  to  the  Glorious  One — the  unerring 
Mariner  who  has  guided  my  frail  life's  bark 
across  the  billowy  world-ocean  wrapt  in 
"Goo" — the  darkness  of  ignorance — with 
the  ever-illuminating-.  "Roo" — the  search-light 
of  wisdom — to  the  Land  of  the  Lotus  Feet 
of  Krishna.  I  bow  to  Sree  Brahmananda 
Bharati — my  Gooroo. 

And  now,  hush !  list !  I  sing  of  Krishna.  I 
will  sing  of  Krishna,  the  Lord  of  Love,  the 
Seed  and  Soul  of  the  Universe,  the  Ultimate 
Principle  in  the  composition  of  Creation,  of 
all  souls'  real  Home — Sweet,  Sweet  Home! 
I  will  sing  of  your  only  Lover,  and  your  only 
Beloved. 

I  wish  to  sing  a  song  whose  sweetness  will 
thrill  through  your  body,  which  will  make 
your  soul  float  in  ecstasy.  I  will  sing  a  song 
whose  burden  will  enter  your  heart  as  a  dew- 
drop  enters  the  bosom  of  a  flower,  but  will 
3 


PROEM. 

soon,  if  you  are  attentive,  spread  itself  into 
a  boundless  ocean  on  which  your  heart  will 
be  tossed  over  its  gentle  waves,  like  a  boat 
bound  for  and  sure  of  the  land  of  Eternal 
Bliss.  I  as  earnestly  ask  your  blessing  that 
I  may  be  filled  with  such  power  to  sing  such 
a  song,  as  I  ask  the  blessing  of  my  Krishna 
to  sing  of  Him  to  you. 

I  will  sing  a  song  of  love  such  as  you  have 
never  heard,  such  as  poets  dream  not  of, 
which  lovers  know  not  of,  which  the  human 
soul  is  ever  in  quest  of,  which,  in  your  best 
moments,  vibrates  undefined  through  your 
soul,  but  ever  eludes  your  understanding.  1 
will  sing  of  that  Love  which  ever  plays  before 
your  heart's  vision  as  the  will-o'-the-wisp 
through  countless  incarnations — a  Love  which 
alone  will  make  you  happy  for  evermore. 

I  will  sing  a  song  to  you  of  a  Love  which 
you  are  striving  every  moment  of  your  life 
to  realize  through  success  and  failure  in  this 
life's  games,  the  Love  whose  worthless  coun- 
terfeits dazzle  and  deceive  you  at  every  step — 
at  every  step  removing  you  farther  and  far- 
ther from  the  original  they  so  poorly  resemble. 

4 


PROEM. 

I  will  sing  to  you  of  the  Love  Absolute,  the 
Love  that  is  unbroken,  the  Love  that  is  fed  and 
"TOWS  by  use,  the  Love  that  blesses  the  lover 
with  greater  abundance  for  giving  it  away  to 
others. 

I  will  sing  to  you  of  a  Love  which  is  your 
birthright,  which  is  the  very  foundation  of 
your  existence,  which  alone  is  the  substance  of 
all  existences,  and,  wonder  of  wonders,  a  Love 
which  is  your  real  food  and  Home. 

Aye,  it  is  of  your  Home  that  I  will  sing — 
the  unknown  pole  to  which  the  magnet  of  your 
soul  eternally  trembles.  Home  is  ever  sweet 
— Home,  Sweet  Home !  But  this  your  sweet 
earthly  home  is  only  the  home  of  your  earthly 
self,  the  brick-and-mortar  closet  of  your 
fleshly  coats,  of  which  you  have  possessed  a 
countless  number.  But  all  those  coats  have 
been  mere  coverings  of  your  inner  Self,  which 
is  a  truant  from  its  own  Home,  but  of  which 
it  has  lost  all  memory,  having  lived  so  long 
in  others'  homes.  I  will  sing  to  you  of  a 
song  whose  burden  will  remind  you  of  this 
lost  and  forgotten  Home,  the  Home  that  you 
are  seeking  in  vain,  consciously  or  uncon- 

5 


PROEM. 

sciously,  the  Home  whose  never-failing  happi- 
ness you  are  trying  to  substitute  in  your 
borrowed  home  by  ever-failing  pleasures, 
pleasures  which  only  pain  you  by  their  hollow- 
ness.  How  can  you  live  upon  a  hollow  happi- 
ness, you  who  have  known  and  tasted  solid, 
eternal  happiness  in  your  real  Home? — the 
Home  where  light  fades  not,  life  grieves  not, 
and  happiness  ever  is !  I  will  sing  to  you  of 
the  Home  where  your  Master,  Friend,  Father, 
and  Lover  is  ever  anxious  to  get  you  back 
and  take  you  to  His  bosom. 

I  will  sing  to  you  of  Krishna — your  Home 
— the  Seed  and  Soul  of  your  soul,  as  well  as 
of  the  universe  of  which  you  are  a  miniature. 

And  now,  my  beloved  friend,  prepare  your- 
self to  listen  to  this  song  which  comes  to  you 
from  across  the  oceans — from  a  land  where 
the  altar  of  the  Lord  of  Love  is  ever  burning, 
fed  by  the  libations  of  devotion  and  the  in- 
cense of  ecstasy,  since  the  dawn  of  creation, 
— from  that  cradle  of  religion  and  civilization, 
from  that  spiritual  metropolis  of  the  spiritual 
world-empire,  where  the  fountain  of  Divine 
Love,  Life  and  Wisdom  is  still  playing,  to 
6 


PROEM. 

water  the  earth  with  the  blessings  of  the  soul 
— the  Land  of  Bharat,  which  you  moderns 
call  India.  Listen  and  be  blessed! 

This  is  a  song  not  set  to  any  tune  you 
know,  to  any  music  you  have  heard,  and  yet 
it  is  a  song  which  is  set  in  the  true  tune  of 
your  heart,  to  the  natural  music  of  your  soul. 
It  is  the  Song  Ecstatic  of  your  Heart-Soul 
which  will  make  the  core  of  your  being  throb 
in  beatitude  and  melt  the  crusts  of  materiality 
in  you  into  the  Love  Unspeakable!  Listen 
and  be  blessed! 


SREE    KRISHNA 

THE  LORD  OF  LOVE 

CHAPTER   I. 

WEARY  and  overburdened  with  its  load  of 
sorrow  and  weakness,  the  great  heart  of 
Mother  Earth  lifted  her  voice  unto  the  heights 
of  the  skies,  complaining. 

Her  patience  and  faithfulness  were  qualities 
of  wondrous  worth  to  Brahma,  the  Creator,* 
and  so,  drawing  aside  the  curtain  from  his 
abode,  he  looked  into  her  soft  and  wearied 
eyes,  saying: 

"O  Mother  Earth !  Long  hath  the  pain  of 
ingratitude  and  faithlessness  pierced  thy  ten- 
der heart,  and  with  courage  and  loving  mercy 


*Brahma  is  the  Creator  of  the  details  of  the  Uni- 
verse. The  Supreme  Creator  is  the  Supreme  Deity, 
Krishna.  Fie  creates  by  His  Will.  The  inequi- 
librium  of  the  three  Cardinal  Attributes  (Sattwa, 
Raja,  Tama,  or  Illumination,  Activity  and  Obscura- 
tion) embodies  the  Creative  Will  of  Krishna,  a? 
explained  in  the  foregoing  part  of  this  book.  This 
inequilibrium  starts  the  current  and  force  of  Cre- 
ation. Vasudeva,  as  the  manifestation  and  centre  of 

9 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

hast  thou  borne  its  stings.  But  now  a  balm  is 
to  come  unto  thee  and  soothe  thy  wounded 
love  and  readjust  those  things  of  which  thou 
dost  complain. 

"Yet  a  little  while,  O  thou  Goddess  of 
Plenty,  and  One  shall  play  upon  thy  breast, 
which  will  make  the  veins  of  thy  body  to 


the  first  flush  of  Creation,  springing  from  Krishna  as 
a  result  of  this  loss  of  poise,  is  the  Second  Creator 
in  whom  the  seed  of  Creation  (unpoise  of  Attri- 
butes) dwells  as  an  Unknown  Feeling  of  differentia- 
tion. Sankarsana,  who  springs  from  Vasudeva,  is 
the  Third  Creator,  but  acts  only  as  the  Unconscious 
Cause  of  Creation.  Pradyumna,  who  springs  from 
Sankarsana,  carrying  the  Abstract  Idea  of  Creation, 
is  the  Fourth  Creator,  the  Semi-Conscious  Cause  of 
Creation.  Aniruddha,  born  of  Pradyumna  as  the 
Full-Conscious  Cause,  is  the  Fifth  Creator.  This 
Aniruddha  is  called  Narayan  and  Vishnoo.  From 
Him  springs  Brahma,  the  first  sprout  of  Creation. 
He  is  the  Sixth  and  the  Operating  Creator,  called  in 
the  Hindoo  Books  the  "Father  of  Creation,"  the 
"Grandfather  of  all  God's  creatures."  Brahma's 
Abode  is  the  Brahma  Loka,  otherwise  called  the 
Satya  Loka  or  the  Seventh  Heaven,  the  Seventh 
from  the  Earth  Sphere  (First  Heaven). 

Just  over  the  Brahma  Loka  is  the  Vaikuntha 
Loka,  the  Abode  of  Vishnoo,  the  Abode  of  Salva- 
tion (Mukti),  where  souls  freed  from  the  last  bond- 
age of  matter  and  its  influence  go  for  Rest  and  Re- 
ward. This  Abode  of  Vishnoo  is  unapproachable 
even  by  the  gods  and  the  illumined  souls  who  dwell 
on  earth  or  in  the  Four  Upper  Heavens.  Brahma 
alone  by  mediation  can  communicate  with  Vishnoo 
on  any  subject  bearing  on  the  _  welfare  _of  Creation 
and  receive  a  response  from  Him  who  is  the  Outer 
Form  of  Krishna. 

10 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

thrill  with  warm  love,  so  that  thy  heart  will 
be  beautiful  beyond  what  it  yet  has  been. 

"Thy  mountains  shall  laugh  in  great  happi- 
ness on  seeing  the  beauty  of  Him  who  shall 
cast  His  lotus  eyes  upon  their  rugged  sides. 

"Thy  rivers  shall  flow  in  rhapsodies  when 
His  Sweet  Body  shall  sanctify  their  waves 
by  its  contact. 

"Thy  harvests  shall  come  forth  in  great 
plentifulness. 

"Thy  cows  shall  give  forth  milk  that  shall 
be  nourishing  and  healing  unto  all  whom  it 
will  feed. 

"Thy  trees  shall  cast  forth  shadows  that 
all  who  come  under  their  cooling  shade,  sick 
unto  death,  shall  bound  forth  with  the  glad- 
ness of  life  and  love  in  their  bodies,  and,  O 
patient  Earth,  all  who  tread  upon  thee  shall 
call  thee  blessed  because  the  One  All  Beauti- 
ful shall  have  made  thee  blessed  by  His  Holy 
Feet  treading  upon  thee." 

Thus  spake  Brahma  unto  Mother  Earth, 
who  lowly  laid  again  her  dark  head,  and 
entering  the  Abode  of  Vishnoo,  he  said  unto 
Him: 

11 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

"O  Thou  Mighty  One!  Well  dost  Thou 
know  the  grievance  of  her,  the  Patient  One, 
who  is  dear  unto  us.  Do  Thou  in  Thy  glory 
and  majesty  succor  her,  O  Lord ! 

"Let  the  Only  One,  the  Lord  of  Love,  the 
Sovereign  of  all  the  Universe,  the  Author  of 
all  that  lives,  again  be  born  upon  her  surface, 
and  so  bring  to  her  wilted  breast  the  nectar  of 
Love,  that  all  who  draw  from  her  may  again 
partake  freshly  of  the  love  that  is  the  life  of 
all  animate  and  inanimate. 

"This  Thou  do,  O  Wondrous  and  Most 
Beautiful  One,  and  quicken  again  with  love 
her  heart  and  the  hearts  that  beat  against  her 
breast,  so  that  the  eyes  of  those  who  have 
eyes,  yet  see  not,  may  see. 

"Do  Thoti  incarnate  with  Thyself  those 
who  have  ever  walked  with  Thee,  and  who 
may,  even  before  the  eyes  of  all,  perform  and 
live  miracles  of  love.  For,  O  Most  High,  full 
of  stolid  unbelief  and  fettered  with  the  world 
have  Thy  children  become,  so  that  even  she 
who  erstwhile  ever  patient  was  has  complain- 
ingly  called  unto  me  for  help." 

12 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

He,  the  Maker  of  all  that  is,  forthwith 
spake : 

"So  shall  it  be.  Unto  her  who  has  held 
upon  her  lap  all  those  who  are  mine  and  who 
hath  come  out  of  Me  and  who  is  also  of  Me, 
I  shall  be  born. 

"And  great  shall  be  the  rejoicing  of  her 
and  my  children  who  walk  upon  her  surface. 

"From  the  heart  of  man  the  weight  of  stone 
shall  be  lifted  and  his  eye  shall  be  quickened 
with  love,  and  I  with  my  followers  shall  bring 
to  them  the  ways  and  means  that  love  doth 
know,  and  the  whole  known  world  shall  again 
learn  that  I  am  Life  and  Love,  that  I  the 
Creator  of  all  things  am,  even  unto  the  ant 
and  the  huge  elephant  who  by  one  blow  of 
his  mighty  trunk  uprooteth  the  tree. 

"They  shall  also  know  Me  as  Child,  Son, 
Warrior,  King,  and  Priest,  and  in  their  midst 
I  shall  walk  even  with  those  who  with  Me 
shall  be  born  again,  and  seeing  Me  and  know- 
ing Me,  I  shall  draw  all  unto  Me,  and  close 
with  Me  they  shall  again  taste  the  sweetness 
of  my  love. 

13 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

"With  Me  shall  come  those  who  have  ever 
known  Me  through  many  incarnations,  those 
who  cover  themselves  with  the  qualities  most 
like  unto  Me  and  whom  my  Earth-children 
have  learned  to  look  upon  as  gods,  praying 
to  them  because  of  these  attributes  which 
they  themselves  wished  to  be  blessed  withal. 

"Tell  those  who  know  the  fulness  of  my 
Bliss,  those  who  have  bathed  in  the  nectar  of 
my  Love,  those  who  have  dwelt  in  the  ecstasy 
of  my  loveliness,  and  those  who  in  their 
devotion  have  known  nothing  outside  of  Me, 
those  who  have  ever  seen  Me  in  all  things, 
and  have  feasted  their  minds  only  upon  My 
Beauty — tell  them  that  I  with  them  shall 
be  born  of  woman  and  shall  dwell  for  the 
span  of  man's  life  among  men." 

And  when  the  Gods,  those  whom  He  had 
designated,  heard  the  Will  of  Him,  great  was 
the  rejoicing  in  that  Abode,  for  no  Will  knew 
they,  save  the  Sweet  Will  of  the  Most  Lovely 
One,  whose  Lotus  Feet  they  worshipped  in 
ecstasy. 


14 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN  the  seat  of  Hari,  the  sacred  city  of 
Mathura  on  the  Jumna,  Vasudeva  in  love  and 
humbleness  took  unto  himself  Devaki  as  bride, 
who  by  all  was  known  as  the  most  holy  and 
virtuous  maiden  of  that  land. 

Dear  unto  the  heart  of  her  brother,  the 
Prince  of  Mathura,  she  was,  and  beloved 
among  his  people  and  among  all  women  be- 
cause of  the  purity  of  her  heart  and  the  sweet- 
ness of  her  face.  To  show  to  all  the  world 
his  love  for  her,  the  prince  himself,  in  proud 
fondness,  drove  the  marriage-car  of  his  little 
sister  princess  and  the  new  brother-in-law, 
who,  by  right  of  great  wisdom,  a  Pundit  of 
high  standing  among  the  learned  was. 

Gentle  was  the  new  bridegroom,  even  as  he 
was  wise.  Fond  glances  of  love  he  cast  upon 
the  radiant  face  of  the  young  princess,  and 
from  all  sides  the  blessings  fell  from  the  lips 
of  the  populace  on  the  sweet  bride,  the  learned 

1-7 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

bridegroom,  and  the  gallant  prince  who  held 
the  reins  because  of  his  love  for  them  both. 

Put  lo!  in  the  span  of  a  moment  all  was 
changed,  for  a  voice  there  was  which  seemed 
to  come  out  of  space :  "O  thou  fool !  Why, 
even  she  for  whom  in  pride  and  love  thou 
dost  hold  the  reins  to  her  marriage-car,  even 
she  shall  bear  the  child  in  her  womb  who 
shall  sweep  thy  life  from  off  the  earth.  Her 
son,  the  eighth,  shall  be  the  cause  of  thy 
death." 

The  reins  dropped  from  the  hands  of  the 
prince,  and,  springing  to  his  feet,  he  caught 
the  young  bride  by  the  hair  as  if  to  slay  her, 
but  was  arrested  by  Vasudeva,  who  cried, 
"O  prince !  Noble  wast  thou  ever,  and  ill  would 
it  be  for  thee  to  slay  thy  sister  on  the  eve  of 
her  marriage.  It  is  not  for  thee  to  take  life, 
O  King,  thou  who  canst  not  give  it.  Death 
must  come,  but  let  it  not  be  by  thy  hand, 
O  prince,  nor  yet  before  her  time.  Take  not 
the  life  of  her  who  is  thy  sister  and  thereby 
stain  the  heritage  of  virtue  such  as  has  been 
ascribed  unto  thee. 

W 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"Listen  to  the  words  of  wisdom  that  have 
come  to  us  from  the  sages,  without  whom 
all  life  a  desert  would  be.  Well  thou  knowest 
that  a  man's  actions  do  follow  him  from 
body  to  body  even  as  in  walking  he  leaveth 
the  imprint  of  each  step  behind  the  other, 
yet  with  each  step  doth  he  carry  the  dust  on 
his  feet  from  the  ground  whereon  he  did  walk. 

"Man  hath  many  existences,  each  one  por- 
traying a  character  which  is  the  outcome  of 
his  past  self.  As  the  present  is  the  fulfilment 
of  the  threatening  past,  so  man  is  the  unfold- 
ment  and  fulfilment  of  his  previous  existences. 

"So  seek  not  to  blacken  thy  soul  by  the 
slaying  of  one  of  thine  own  blood,  but  seek 
rather  to  add  new  glory  to  thy  light  by  pre- 
serving her  who,  all  guiltless,  thou  dost  seek 
to  slay.  Heap  not  thou  upon  thyself  a  dark 
and  evil  Karma  to  confront  thee  and  blight 
thee  in  thy  other  lives. 

"It  is  but  the  chill  breath  of  suspicion  and 
the  dread  tremor  of  fear  that  surges  heavy 
and  dark  through  thy  mind.  Be  warned  by 
me,  O  prince ;  desist  from  thy  unjust  act  and 
speedily  thy  heart  shall  glow  again,  warmed 
17 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

by  the  embers  of  hope.  A  man  too  fearful 
of  threatening  danger,  in  torment  of  that  dan- 
ger ever  dwelleth.  Even  calamity  may  be 
turned  aside  by  the  smile  of  distrust,  and 
fatality  may  forget  thee  quite  while  passing 
thy  door. 

"But  when  the  soil  of  thy  heart  has  been 
made  fertile  for  fear,  be  sure  its  seed  therein 
will  thrive,  finding  sustenance  for  sprouting 
and  its  fruit  it  will  bear. 

"Stand  valiant,  O  prince,  and  be  not  like 
the  timorous  woman  who  runneth  away  from 
the  shadow  of  danger  but  to  flee  into  the  arms 
of  the  foe.  Thy  Karma  that  counteth  up  the 
reckonings  cannot  be  cheated.  So  be  not, 
O  prince,  of  timid  heart ;  and  each  son  that 
cometh  from  the  womb  of  thy  sister,  Devaki, 
shall  be  given  to  thee/' 

Listening  to  the  wise  counsels  of  Vasudeva, 
the  prince  gave  over  his  mad  desire  to.  slay  his 
sister  with  his  own  hand,  and  the  newly 
wedded  ones  proceeded  to  the  home  of  Vasu- 
deva. 


18 


CHAPTER  III. 

TRUE  to  his  promise,  Vasudeva  brought  unto 
the  prince  his  first-born,  a  son. 

The  prince,  on  seeing  that  Vasudeva  was 
true  to  his  compact  to  deliver  his  son  as  it  was 
born,  gave  it  back,  saying:  "It  is  not  this 
son  that  I  fear,  but  he  who  will  be  born  thine 
eighth  one  it  is  ordained  shall  slay  me.  So 
take  back  thy  first-born,  Vasudeva.  Of  him 
there  is  naught  to  fear." 

Vasudeva  took  the  little  one,  and  putting  it 
in  the  glad  arms  of  the  young  mother,  said: 
"O  princess!  It  is  with  joy  and  yet  with 
great  foreboding  that  I  return  to  thee  the 
babe,  for  there  is  that  in  my  heart  which  tells 
me  that  the  prince,  thy  brother,  spoke  not 
the  truth  when  thy  boy  he  gave  back  unto 
me,  for  fear  lodged  in  his  eye  and  anger 
vibrated  in  his  voice  even  as  he  said,  'From 
thy  first-born  no  harm  will  come  unto  me.' 
19 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Yet  clasp  him  to  thy  heart,  young  mother,  and 
bathe  him  in  thy  glad  tears  of  love  while  he 
resteth  on  thy  breast." 

But  even  while  the  tender  young  mother 
crooned  her  love-songs  to  her  soft  nestling, 
the  cruel  edict  went  forth  that  the  babe  was 
to  be  taken  from  her,  as  also  each  new-born 
man-child  that  came  into  the  land,  for,  as  a 
blighting  flash  from  the  clouds  that  strikes 
the  healthy  young  sapling  at  the  root,  there  had 
come  to  Kangsa's  fear-burdened  mind  the 
knowledge  that  in  his  former  birth  he  had 
been  dethroned  and  slain  by  one  of  his  own 
kin,  who  was  said  to  have  come  from  on  high 
even  to  still  the  power  of  the  wicked  and  exalt 
the  lowly  and  virtuous. 

This  in  all  its  weight  had  come  into  his 
heart,  and  louder  than  the  bolts  of  thunder 
the  voice  he  had  heard  on  Devaki's  wedding- 
day  seemed  to  throb  in  his  brain,  as  he  saw 
Vasudeva  depart  with  his  first-born  son.  And 
great  were  the  lamentations  of  the  mothers 
who  gave  birth  unto  sons  in  that  land.  Many 
departed  from  the  kingdom  where  Kangsa, 
the  destroyer  of  the  young,  did  rule. 
20 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

But  when  the  wailing"  of  the  new-born  child 
was  no  longer  heard  in  all  that  kingdom,  the 
prince  in  his  madness  deposed  his  father, 
Ugrasen,  and  became  himself  the  King-  and 
thrust  Devaki,  his  sister,  and  Vasudeva  into 
the  dungeon  of  his  palace,  where  the  six  sons 
that  were  born  to  them  were  dashed  to  death 
on  the  flagged  floor  in  the  hour  of  their  com- 
ing by  Kangsa  himself. 

And  now  again  there  was  quickening  in  the 
womb  of  Devaki,  and  the  joy  of  natural 
motherhood  was  overshadowed  by  the  terror 
of  the  fate  of  the  new  life  that  was  to  be  a 
babe.  But  groundless  was  the  fear  of  the 
agonized  mother,  for  his  coming  was  even 
before  his  time ;  for  the  earth  sent  a  mist 
thick  as  the  garment  of  death  to  shroud  the 
palace  of  the  King,  and  a  deep  sleep  on  the 
gaolers  fell  on  the  hour  that  the  child  of 
premature  birth  felt  the  breath  of  earth,  and 
drowned  were  its  first  weak  wails  by  the  sound 
of  the  winds  that  shrieked  without. 

And  the  child  that  came  to  the  v/orld  too 
soon,   even   before   his   time   was   completed, 
was   despatched   in   great  haste   to   one   who 
21 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

suckled  him  and  called  him  her  own.  The 
child  that  by  the  near  hand  of  love  was  saved 
from  the  hand  of  frenzied  murder  was  the 
child  that  would  walk  with  the  Lord  of  Love 
and  play  with  the  Soul  of  the  Universe. 

And  when  the  mists  were  gone,  the  King 
marvelled  that  no  child  had  come,  while  the 
mother  marvelled  at  the  goodness  of  Him  who 
was  the  Author  of  Life. 


22 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Now  the  time  was  ready  for  Hari  (Krishna) 
to  come  to  be  born  and  dwell  upon  earth. 

His  sweet  will  it  was  to  be  as  a  man  and 
show  man  the  beauty  of  Love.  It  was  then 
that  Devaki  again  conceived  and  a  mother 
unto  the  eighth  child  would  be. 

But  lo !  fear  now  to  her  was  unknown  and 
glory  shone  around  her  like  the  sun  rilling 
the  darkened  dungeon  with  light,  for  the 
Lord  of  all  Light  in  her  mind  did  come, 
and  Him  as  a  child  to  the  world  she  would 
bring.  She,  who  the  mother  many  times  of 
sorrow  was,  now  the  mother  of  joy  had 
become. 

O  blessed  art  thou,  wife  Devaki,  that  the 
sweet  will  of  the  Lord  of  all  Love  and  All 
Life  was  centred  on  thee  when  he  willed  as  a 
child  among  men  to  come !  And  thou,  poor 
mother,  whose  heart  was  made  to  bleed  for 

23 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

the  bearing  of  sons,  henceforth  an  ocean  of 
love  shalt  become,  for  throbs  not  under  thy 
heart  the  pulse  of  Him  who,  love-touched, 
love-filled,  and  love-made,  pervades  all  lives 
and  all  that  ever  will  live  ? 

And  in  that  hour  barren  women,  as  a  gra- 
cious boon  of  the  Lord's  coming  into  Devaki's 
womb,  conceived  to  their  own  over  joyful 
surprise. 

And  when  Kangsa  beheld  the  glory  of  her 
who  was  his  sister,  he  knew  that  Hari,  He 
who  would  quench  his  life,  was  within  her. 

But  when  he  sought  to  strike  her  low,  the 
glow  of  the  light  that  came  from  her  over- 
awed him  quite  and  the  steel  refused  to  reach 
her  flesh ;  and  many  gaolers  were  sent  unto 
her  by  the  king  to  slay,  but  when  they  looked 
upon  her  glory,  lo !  their  hearts  were  quick- 
ened with  love,  and  holy  they  became,  and, 
dropping  their  weapons,  fled  from  her  side 
and  in  meditation  and  prayer  sought  the  light 
that  showed  them  their  darkness. 

And  the  seers  and  sages  and  gods  and  pun- 
dits and  angels  that  see,  with  illumined  eyes  of 
the  spirit,  the  things  that  were  and  are  and 
24 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

the  things  that  still  will  come,  beheld  the 
light  that  glorified  the  mother  even  though 
distance  and  mortar  hid  her  from  fleshly  view, 
for  the  eyes  that  are  quickened  by  spirit  cog- 
nize not  the  sight  of  the  senses. 

And,  prostrating  low,  salutations  they  gave 
to  the  Lord  of  the  Universe  that  became  child 
in  the  mother : 

"O  Thou,  the  Eye  of  the  Universe  that  sees 
all,  the  all-hearing  Ear,  the  Heart  that  draweth 
unto  itself  all  that  sprang*  from  Thee! 

"Thou,  the  Seed  and  Soul  that  hath  in  its 
centre  the  roots  of  all  space  and  all  that  space 
containeth ! 

"Thou,  the  Source  of  all  Love,  the  Exist- 
ence of  all  Life,  the  Dispenser  of  all  Light,  the 
Mystery  of  all  Wisdom,  who,  self-created, 
chose  not  to  dwell  alone,  but  willed  creation 
to  be  and  from  whose  breath  all  living  crea- 
tures sprang! 

"O  Thou,  who  suffered  darkness  to  be,  that 
beauty  of  light  may  be  known!  Thou,  who 
by  Thy  own  sweet  will  dost  thrust  Thy  own 
children  forth  a  little  but  to  draw  them  unto 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Thy  heart  again  to  heighten  Thy  pleasure  and 
theirs ! 

"We,  Thy  blinded  children,  illumined,  were 
made  to  see  the  light  of  Thy  coming  to  earth. 
Thou,  the  Mystery  and  yet  the  Revelation  of 
all  things  art! 

"Thou,  that  which  hideth  from  man  all 
things  that  he  accounteth  not  to  Thy  sweet 
will  and  revealeth  all  unto  him  who  sifteth 
each  act  to  Thy  source ! 

"Thou,  who  attunest  the  ear  to  the  sound 
of  all  harmony  and  keepest  Thy  Worlds  and 
All  Lift  in  motion  ! 

"Thou,  who  art  the  Immensity  of  All 
Things!  We  know  that  even  as  a  man  Thou 
art  come  in  our  midst. 

"O  Thou  the  Source  of  all  Energy  that  is, 
Thou  the  Vibrations  of  all  joy  that  thrilleth 
through  all  Life! 

"Thou  Maker  of  all,  who  by  Thy  coming 
dost  lift  us  even  unto  Thyself,  again  who  by 
Thy  coming  will  show  the  vileness  of  Self 
which  unlike  Thee  is,  and  how  sin  doth  darken 
where  virtue  is ! 

"Thy  power,  O  King  of  all  Kingdoms,  is 

26 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

boundless.  Oh !  why  are  we  blessed  with  the 
truth  of  Thy  coming,  we  the  blinded  whom 
Thou  hast  chosen  to  honor?" 

Thus  spoke  the  'sages,  the  pundits  and  seers, 
the  gods  and  Brahma,  the  Creator  Himself, 
whom  the  Lord  of  Love  had  blessed  with  the 
power  to  know  of  His  coming. 


27 


CHAPTER  V. 

AND  the  child  was  come,  the  child  that  was 
God,  the  God  that  became  child,  and  time 
itself  stood  still  in  its  passing  to  mark  the 
wonder  of  that  coming! 

The  clouds  ceased  their  onward  sailing  and 
crowded  in  piles  of  white  and  blue  and  gray 
softness,  to  marvel  at  the  child's  first  smile. 

The  heavens  rained  down  blossoms  of  white 
and  red  and  golden  and  blue  lotuses. 

The  mountains  gave  forth  a  great  cry  of 
joy,  as  they  in  gladness  met. 

The  rivers  heaved  their  billowy  crests  and 
chanted  hymns  of  praise  to  Him,  who  was 
to  make  holy  again  their  waters. 

The  earth  throbbed  and  thrilled  as  the 
streams  of  holy  Love  shot  through  all  her 
body,  swelling  'her  breast  with  new  life  and 
feeding  all  that  was  living  and  moving  within 
the  recesses  of  her  bowels,  and  clothing  with 
38 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

great  beauty  that  which  lived  upon  her 
bosom. 

The  roots  of  growing1,  things  grasped  with 
a  firmer  hold  her  sides,  and  her  loved  crea- 
tures, those  that  walked  and  those  that  crept 
upon  her  surface,  nestled  once  more,  as  of 
yore,  when  all  the  world  was  holy,  against  her 
freshened  and  strengthened  body  with  new 
affection  and  faithfulness,  and  her  great  heart 
uttered  a  mighty  thanksgiving  to  Him  who 
had  heard  her  appeal  and  svfccored  her. 

The  seeds  that  were  in  her  mouth  burst  into 
rooting,  the  roots  into  sprouting,  and  the 
budding  trees,  that  graced  her  brow,  linto  glad 
blossoms. 

And  the  trees  that  were  in  blossom  bore  ripe 
fruit  in  the  hour  of  His  coming. 

And  all  those  that  hungered  were  fed. 

The  cows,  big  with  young,  dropped  their 
calves,  and  their  bags  were  full  unto  bursting 
for  all  that  came  to  take  sustenance  there- 
from. 

The  motherless  cubs  of  wild  things  fear- 
lessly suckled  from  her  udder,  and  the  cow 
29 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

lapped  the  soft,  furred  sides  of  the  young 
stranger  with  her  long,  rough  tongue. 

And  all  the  wild  things  that  hungered  were 
fed  in  that  hour. 

The  eagle  left  its  nest  on  the  mountain's 
rugged  side,  and  sat  on  the  tree  with  quivering 
wing  beside  the  dove,  that  cooed  its  inward 
shout  of  love. 

The  snake  forgot  to  charm  the  timid  song- 
ster that  thrilled  its  joy  close  by,  but,  lifting 
up  its  hooded  head,  it  madly  danced  between 
the  sunshine  and  the  shadow  that  the  exultant 
branches  of  swaying  trees  did  cast. 

The  huge  elephant  sportive  became,  and 
played  with  the  deer  and  doe  that  rubbed 
against  its  haunches. 

The  fierce  lion,  the  leopard,  and  all  the  un- 
tamed creatures  of  the  forests,  with  yearning 
call  of  love,  turned  their  faces  towards  the 
place,  all  light,  where  Love,  as  a  little  child 
was  cradled  in  the  arms  of  man. 

And  in  the  hour  of  His  coming  many  rain- 
bows of  wondrous  color  and  beauty  did  span 
the  skies.  And  the  sun  liquid  as  molten  love 
became. 

30 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

And  in  that  hour  man  and  beast,  and  bird 
and  flower,  and  all  that  lives  upon  the  earth 
and  underneath  its  surface  and  in  the  deep 
waters,  did  look  into  the  abode  of  Love. 

And  on  the  face  of  earth  the  smile  of  Love 
did  rest,  and  sin  vanished  from  the  heart  of 
man,  even  as  hunger  disappeareth  where  plen- 
tiful food  is  dished  to  the  hungered. 

The  eye  of  the  murderer  looked  for  dark- 
ened places  wherein  to  hide  himself,  but,  find- 
ing naught  but  light,  did  throw  his  blade  into 
the  purified  waters  of  the  holy  river  and  knelt 
at  the  feet  of  the  holy  ones,  who  in  ecstasy 
were  wrapt. 

The  gray  and  shrunken  face  of  avarice 
lifted  itself  toward  the  skies,  and  lo!  glorified 
the  countenance  became! 

The  face  of  bloated  folly,  the  weakness  of 
vanity,  the  vileness  of  ingratitude,  the  stub- 
bornness of  unbelief  in  that  hour  were  un? 
known  to  man. 

A  joy,  unfelt  before,  on  all  the  earth  did 
reign,  a  joy  that  even  yet  doth  thrill  through 
hearts  of  life,  for  the  child  that  was  God,  and 

31 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

the  God  that  was  child,  had  come  on  earth  to 
live  with  man. 


32 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AND  the  child  that  was  the  Lord  spoke  to 
the  mother  in  the  hour  of  His  coming  as  the 
Sovereign  of  all  Sovereignty  would  speak: 

"Say  unto  him,  Vasudeva,  thy  husband,  to 
transport  me  to  where  the  wife  of  the  King 
Nanda  doth  lie,  who  but  now  giveth  birth  to 
a  daughter. 

"Pass  through  the  gates;  the  chains  shall 
be  loosened,  the  keepers  asleep  at  their  posts. 

"The  warring  waters  of  the  Jumna  a  path 
shall  make  for  him  to  pass  with  Me  in  his 
arms.  The  gates  of  the  palace  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  wide  open  shall  stand,  and  the 
mother  asleep  in  her  chamber  shall  be. 

"Put  Me  on  her  breast,  and  bear  away  the 
daughter  that  to  her  is  born.  And  when  the 
prince  shall  ask  Vasudeva  for  the  eighth  child 
that  is  born  unto  thee,  do  thou  deliver  the 
daughter  of  Yasoda  unto  him." 

33 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

Thus  spake  the  Lord,  and  a  helpless  child 
lie  became. 

Vasudeva  in  wonder  passed  through  the 
gates ;  the  keepers  all  slept  a  sleep  as  of  death. 
The  waters  parted  to  make  a  way  for  him 
who  carried  the  Lord  to  pass. 

Unseen,  unheard,  he  entered  the  courtyard 
and  palace  and  passed  the  sounding  halls  and 
corridors,  until  the  room  of  the  sleeping  queen 
he  spied,  and  taking  the  Lord  from  under  his 
cloak,  on  the  breast  of  the  sleeping  queen  he 
laid  it,  and  took  in  his  place  the  wide-eyed 
daughter,  that  cooed  and  smiled  in  his  bearded 
face. 

And  sleep  still  held  the  queen  and  the  city 
and  the  gaolers  embraced,  till  he  stood  at  the 
side  of  Devaki  once  more,  who  wept  at  the 
sight  of  the  smiling  babe,  who  soon  at  the 
hand  of  her  brother  must  perish. 

At  break  of  day,  the  prince  entered  the 
dungeon  to  seek  the  life  of  the  eighth  child  of 
his  sister. 

As  he  lifted  the  child  on  high  to  dash  its 
head  on  the  flagged  floor,  lo !  the  child  slipped 
from  his  hand  and  rose,  the  while  speaking: 

34 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"Karma,  that  counteth  all  reckonings  up, 
cannot  be  cheated  by  thee,  O  prince !  'Tis 
written  that  thou  must  be  slain  by  the  eighth 
son  of  thy  sister,  and  so  it  shall  be. 

"That  child  I  am  not,  O  prince!  But  I 
came  on  earth  for  this  hour,  to  show  thee  thy 
folly.  Dost  thou  think,  O  fool,  that  by  human 
force,  by  the  slaying  of  innocence,  by  the 
destroying  of  hope  and  joy  in  the  heart  of 
the  mother,  thou  canst  change  the  Will  of  Him 
who  is  the  Maker  of  all  laws  ? 

"Thinkest  thou,  O  man,  thou  canst  cross 
swords  with  Him  that  knoweth  the  effect  of 
each  thought  that  man  thinketh,  even  before 
the  thinking  is  done? 

"He  whom  thou  seekest  thou  shalt  not 
find!" 

She  ceased,  and  a  light  never  seen  on  earth 
or  in  heaven  enveloped  the  child  as  she  van- 
ished from  view. 

And  the  prince  rushed  forth  in  his  frenzy 
and  madness  and  sought  not  again  to  bring 
harm  to  his  sister,  but  unfettered  the  chains 
were  of  husband  and  wife,  and  in  freedom 
forth  they  went. 

35 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AND  the  child  that  was  God  as  Krishna  was 
known. 

And  men  drew  love  from  the  Name,  for 
the  Name  the  potency  of  Love  contained,  even 
as  the  seed  the  tree  doth  hold,  or  the  bud  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  enfolds. 

And  all  who  spoke  the  Name  of  Krishna 
felt  the  heart  beat  quick  and  high,  and  all  who 
looked  upon  His  face  felt  at  once  that  Love 
was  nigh. 

And  it  came  about  that  all  the  people  who 
lived  in  the  kingdom  where  the  Child  Krishna 
was  reared  as  the  son  of  the  King  of  Braja, 
thronged  daily  to  get  but  a  glimpse  of  the 
Child,  who,  though  helpless  like  other  babes 
did  seem,  yet  held  the  power  to  draw  all  men 
unto  Him,  even  by  the  light  of  love  that 
made  Him  All  Beauty. 

As  He  sat  on  the  arms  of  the  queen,  His 
foster-mother,  bedecked  with  the  ornaments 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

and  finery  which  the  king  delighted  to  bedeck 
Him  withal,  lo,  the  light  that  radiated  from 
His  flesh  did  put  the  glowing  jewels  to  shame, 
for  love  is  the  essence  of  Beauty  and  Light, 
and  the  Child  was  the  embodiment  of  Love 
itself ! 

So  the  light  that  flashed  from  the  jewels 
was  but  as  the  light  of  glow-worms  that  dis- 
appeareth  when  the  radiance  of  the  moon  is 
about  them. 

In  despair  the  king  sent  messages  to  all  the 
then  known  world  to  procure  such  jewels  as 
might  enhance  the  loveliness  of  his  Child, 
but  ever  when  on  His  body  they  rested,  dull 
they  seemed  on  the  glow  of  His  flesh. 

But  oft  the  Child  would  reach  His  baby 
hands  for  the  flowers  that  the  populace  brought 
in  great  profusion  to  lay  at  the  feet  of  the 
Child  that  was  Love,  and  as  He  held  them 
close  to  His  baby  mouth,  behold,  their  petals 
quivered  and  throbbed  with  love-life,  and 
deeper  the  color  dyed  their  softness  and 
brighter  the  gold  of  their  hearts  did  flame, 
nt  the  touch  of  the  hand  and  the  breath  of  the 
Child  that  knew  naught  but  Love. 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

And  in  the  days  when  Love  as  a  Child  did 
dwell  on  earth,  a  great  force  of  spirituality 
through  all  the  land  went  forth,  and  the 
heart  of  all  the  world  went  up  in  praise  for 
the  mercies  linked  with  ecstasy  that  enriched 
the  cup  of  all  Life. 

Gleams  of  kindness,  and  deeds  of  generosity, 
and  miracles  of  patience,  and  justice,  and  love, 
unheard  of  before,  now  naturally  burst  from 
the  heart  of  man,  as  water  bursts  forth  from 
a  spring  'neath  the  rock. 

And  the  fields,  that  before  were  dried  and 
burned  by  the  sun's  rays  even  as  stubble, 
gave  forth  rich  harvests. 

And  the  rivers  and  seas  that  were  lost  to 
man's  eyes,  again  in  beauty  before  them 
rested. 

And  the  Child  that  was  the  stalk  and  stem 
of  Love  in  beauty  did  grow,  shedding  His 
gracious  smile  on  all  the  world. 

And  Kangsa,  the  King,  now  heard  of  the 
marvellous  Child  whose  smile  brought  a 
smile  on  all  the  world. 


38 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THEN  Kangsa,  the  brother  of  Devaki,  besought 
the  demoness  Ptitana,  mother  of  evil,  to  give 
each  child  in  arms  the  milk  of  her  breast, 
that  should  fill  them  with  death  at  the  sucking. 

And  forth  she  did  go,  and  prayed  to  be  taken 
into  the  palace  of  the  king,  to  behold  the 
young  Child  whose  face  gave  blessing  to  all 
who  on  it  looked. 

On  her  coming,  the  Child  stretched  forth 
its  arms  to  be  taken  to  her  breast,  but  when 
her  breast  between  His  lips  He  took,  she  bent 
her  face  to  look  at  the  Babe,  and  fear  made 
her  pale  and  faint,  for  in  the  beauty  of  His  eye 
the  wisdom  of  all  the  world  she  beheld. 

And  releasing  the  Master  she  held  at  her 
breast,  she  pleaded  and  prayed  that'  He  cease 
His  sucking,  but  harder  He  drew  and  firmer 
His  grip  was,  till  exhausted  and  lifeless  she 
fell  on  the  ground,  while  with  a  smile  the  Babe 

39 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

• 

played  with  the  breast  and  crept  on  the  body 
that  lay  in  death. 

And  when  they  came  from  far  and  wide  to 
look  at  her  who  brought  destruction  and 
death  to  children,  they  beheld  her  swelled  and 
stretched  to  immensity. 

For  smiling  evil  seemeth  not  big,  but  rob 
it  of  the  smile  that  hideth  its  leer,  and  huge 
and  misshapen  it  doth  become. 

So  with  Putana  it  was.  Forth  she  went  to 
mother  and  suckle  the  young  children  and 
thus  bring  death  to  the  Child  of  Love.  Clothed 
in  sweet  motherhood  and  kindness  of  purpose, 
all  hearts  were  opened  to  welcome  her  freely, 
yet  evil  she  brought  wherever  she  walked. 

But  He  who  was  All  Love  at  once  sighted 
her  hatred  for  love,  by  that  which  in  her  all 
unlike  Himself  was,  and  straightway  in  her 
poverty  of  Love  and  nakedness  of  heart  she 
stood  revealed  in  His  eyes. 

And  all  saw  her  thus  hideous  and  unsightly, 
and  marvelled  at  the  blindness  of  their  eyes. 

But  mark  now  the  kindness  and  power  of 
Love. 

By  the  touch_pf  His  lips  upon  her  breast, 

40 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

she,  who  never  knew  love,  by  contact  with 
Him  became  sanctified.  And  the  effort  Putana 
put  forth  to  bring  death  to  Krishna,  under 
cover  of  Love,  did  make  her  for  the  moment 
a  mother  in  truth.  And  for  that  moment  of 
concentrated  love  in  Him  the  honor  of  Divine 
Motherhood  on  her  was  bestowed  in  that  realm 
where  hate  is  unknown.  And  all  the  world 
marvelled,  when  dead  she  lay,  at  the  aroma 
that  rose  from  her  huge  body. 

But  the  Child  only  smiled  as  He  played  on 
her  breast. 

Verily  the  aroma  of  great  sweetness  reached 
to  all  the  skies.  For  Love  is  ever  the  master 
of  hate,  and  Love  in  its  strength  doth  conquer 
all  hate,  and  hate  is  purified  by  the  breath  of 
Love,  and  sanctified  it  is  by  its  hand. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  YEAR  has  passed  since  the  coming  of 
Krishna,  a  year  of  peace  and  plenty  to  all. 

And  the  earth  was  relieved  of  pressure,  and 
the  minds  of  men  were  illumined  by  the  light 
that  shone  in  their  midst. 

And  the  hearts  that  were  cramped  and  nar- 
row with  pain  grew  big  into  bursting  with 
the  love  that  flowed  from  the  Child  that  was 
God. 

And  Nanda  prepared  a  great  feast  for  the 
naming  of  Him  and  the  Brother,  Devaki's  sev- 
enth child  who,  at  birth  premature,  had  been 
despatched  to  the  land  where  Krishna  now 
was.  And  the  feast  was  attended  by  many 
guests,  who  rejoiced  on  beholding  the  won- 
drous Child  who  on  that  day  a  year  had 
brought  joy  by  His  coming. 

And  the  priest  was  called  and  the  seer,  and 
he  who  read  the  stars  and  read  the  Vedas 
alike.  And  when  the  stars  he  contemplated, 

18 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

he  saw  the  wonder  of  His  birth,  and,  pros- 
trating at  the  feet  of  Him,  spoke  to  them  who 
gathered  to  hear:  "The  oppressed  He  shall 
succor,  the  enslaved  He  shall  free,  and  those 
that  in  danger  are  He  will  protect,  and  bring 
all  blessings  to  the  land  where  now  He  doth 
live.  What  and  Who  He  is  you  know  not, 
but,  crowned  with  living  stars  of  Love  and 
adorned  with  the  rainbow  of  promise' on  His 
breast,  this  Child  shall  bring  glory  and  Bliss 
wherever  He  breathes.  Oh,  blessed  was  the 
day  I  looked  in  His  eyes  and  touched  my  hand 
to  His  Holy  Feet,  for  in  Him  the  virtues  and 
powers  and  might  of  Love  do  dwell  that  never 
before  men  with*  eyes  have  seen." 

But  the  little  Child  smiled,  then  stretched 
forth  Its  arms  and  puckered  Its  lips  for  the 
mother's  sweet  milk. 

The  mother  in  pride  placed  It  at  the  side 
of  the  cart  that  held  brass  vessels  and  articles 
of  food,  and  turned  to  receive  the  congratu- 
lations of  her  guests,  when  lo!  the  Child  with 
Its  baby  foot  upturned  the  cart,  and  the  cart 
and  the  vessels  in  pieces  lay  on  the  ground! 
And  more  and  more  they  marvelled  at  the 

43 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Child,  whose  baby  strength  upturned  the  cart. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  miracle  of  His  baby- 
hood. For  one  day  the  mother  sat  with  the 
Child  in  her  lap,  when  lo  and  behold,  so 
heavy  He  became  that  she  felt  as  if  the  world 
were  resting  on  her  knees  ! 

The  strength  of  her  knees  gave  way  and 
the  Child  sank  to  the  ground,  when  a  whirl- 
wind came,  in  the  shape  of  a  dust-storm,  and 
raised  the  Child  to  heights  unseemable,  but 
soon  again  lightly  on  His  feet  He  descended 
at  the  side  of  His  mother. 

Wildly  she  clasped  Him  in  her  arms  and 
kissed  Him  again,  but  He  opened  His  baby 
mouth  to  her  eyes,  and  lo,  the  universe  she 
saw  within! 

And  in  that  moment  unto  her  it  was  revealed 
that  He,  whom  she  called  her  son,  was  God — 
the  Seed  and  Soul  of  the  Universe ;  the  One 
who  all  things  knew,  yet  who  was  unknow- 
able to  all. 

She  also  knew  that  the  shadow  He  cast  by 
His  great,  universal  Will  was  Maya,  and  the 
offsprings  or  attributes  of  that  Maya  as  de- 
mons were  known. 

44 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

And  she  knew  that  a  demon  it  was,  urged 
on  by  Kangsa,  that  came  in  the  shape  of  a 
whirlwind  to  carry  her  Child  away.  And 
that  He  who  was  all  Love  was  mightier  by 
far  than  the  offspring  of  shadow  could  be. 

And  thus  the  power  of  darkness  again  by 
Love  was  overthrown !  All  this  she  saw  in 
the  space  of  a  moment,  and  salutations  she 
made  to  her  Lord. 

But  the  Child  only  smiled  and  the  mother 
again  saw  but  her  Child.  For  how  could  the 
woman,  who  suckled  the  babe,  dwell  long  on 
her  Child  and  know  Him  as  her  Lord? 


CHAPTER  X. 

THUS  the  childhood  of  Krishna  was  full  of 
what  were  considered  wonderful  miracles  by 
His  family  and  the  populace,  but  which,  to 
the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  were  but  divinely 
natural.  The  strength  of  the  baby  hands  was 
colossal.  The"  beauty' of  the  baby  face  was 
entrancing/ 

His  flesr  "gaVe  forth  a  lustre~and  radiance 
that  rilled  a  darkened  room  with  glory.  The 
wisdom  that  peered  from  His  wondrous  eyes 
was  full  of  loving  mystery,  and  the  touch  of 
His  breath  brought  to  the  heart  a  love  that 
was  ecstasy. 

O  Babe,  that  came  to  a  desert  of  life,  to 
make  it  a  garden  of  lilies  and  roses !  O  Babe, 
that  brought  to  a  weakened  heart  the  Love 
that  conquered  the  world  by  its  might ! 

O  Babe,  that  came  with  a  light  on  Thy 
brow  that  filled  the  eye  like  the  glow  of  the 
sun,  and  brought  on  Thy  breath  the  promise 

46 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

of  Bliss  which  came  to  all  those  who  breathed 
where  Thou  dwelt! 

All  these  Thou  wert,  yet  a  helpless  babe  in 
the  arms  of  those  who  reared  Thee  Thou 
lay! 

And  naughty  Thou  wert  and  full  of  mis- 
chief, too,  stealing  the  golden  butter,  that  stood 
in  shining  rows,  the  pride  of  the  dairymaids, 
the  Gopis,  and  feeding  the  same  to  the  saucy 
monkeys,  that  crowded  around  Thee,  to  help 
Thee  in  Thy  pranks ! 

Oh,  wonder  of  Love  and  Might,  Incom- 
prehensible One !  Thou  Omnipotence,  who 
the  all-pervading  energy  of  all  art,  and  yet, 
with  eyes  aslant,  didst  play  the  child  to  suit 
Thine  only  sweet  fancy,  and  in  the  midst  of 
men  didst  come  to  teach  men  Love  and  save 
the  world  that  was  steeped  in  sin !  Thou  who 
wert  Lord  of  the  Lords  of  Yoga,  this  Thy 
Yoga-power  did  startle  the  world  when  in  it 
Thou  wert  as  a  child ! 

On  one  occasion  the  Child  became  impatient 
and  fretful,  because  the  mother  failed  to 
suckle  Him  at  His  cry,  and  running  amidst  the 
pots  and  churns  where  she  had  been  working 

47 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

the  butter,  He  cast  them  down  to  the  earth, 
breaking  them  into  pieces  and  dividing  the 
sweet  butter  with  the  pets  that  followed  the 
Child  wherever  He  went. 

The  mother,  on  being  told  of  His  mischief, 
sought  to  punish  Him  by  tying  Him  with  a 
cord  to  the  husking-stand  that  stood  near  by. 

The  cord  lacked  two  inches  in  its  reach  to 
the  bench;  more  cord  she  sought,  and  fasten- 
ing it  end  to  end,  found  still  the  two  inches 
missing. 

Cord  after  cord  she  added  thereto,  but  she 
could  not  make  the  two  ends  reach. 

Amazed  and  startled  she  gazed  at  the  Child, 
her  hair  dishevelled,  her  face  flushed  with 
excitement,  a  great  fear  looking  from  her  eye, 
for  what  was  this  miracle,  that  prevented  her 
from  spanning  the  reach  of  two  inches  ? 

The  Child,  on  seeing  the  troubled  face  of 
His  mother,  allowed  himself  to  be  fastened. 

And  thus  in  disgrace  he  stood  for  a  time, 
till  two  trees  in  the  distance  attracted  His 
eye,  and  walking  away  in  the  reach  of  the 
cords  and  drawing  the  husking-stand  behind 
Him,  He  stood  between  two  huge  arjuna 

-18 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

trees  and,  casting  the  cord  about  the  trees, 
He  tore  them  up  by  the  roots. 

Down  they  came  with  a  crash  to  the  ground, 
carrying  with  them  all  that  was  in  their  way. 
And  lo !  from  the  trees  two  fiery  spirits  ap- 
peared, and  saluting  the  Child,  they  prayed 
and  disappeared  in  a  cloud  of  light. 

For  list!  in  the  days  of  yore,  when  the 
Saint  Narada  walked  the  earth,  he  passed  the 
stream  where  maid  and  youth  made  merry  in 
the  waves. 

At  the  passing  by  of  the  Saint,  the  youths 
failed  to  salute  him,  but  instead  in  bold  arro- 
gance laughed  and  called  unto  him,  and  rev- 
erence had  they  none. 

In  the  heart  of  the  Saint  a  prayer  arose, 
that  the  youths  who  knew  not  respect  towards 
the  saints  that  walked  on  earth  to  make  men 
holy,  should  be  reborn  as  trees,  yet  as  trees 
to  remember  their  past  offence  and  dwell  on 
the  folly  thereof.  But  the  Saint  also  prayed 
that  when  He  who  was  God  came  on  earth, 
He  would  remember  the  trees  and  sanctify 
and  free  them  by  His  Love-touch. 

So  when  the  Babe's  eye  spied  the  trees,  He 

49 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

uprooted  them  both,  to  make  good  that  prayer. 
And  by  His  touch  the  souls  of  the  youths  into 
high  heavens  did  rise,  while  He,  the  Child, 
the  great  Deliverer  of  all  souls  that  are  born, 
looked  on  and  smiled,  and  the  populace  won- 
dered at  the  fall  of  the  trees,  and  marvelled 
how  the  Child  had  been  saved  from  death  as 
they  crashed  down  beside  him. 

Blinded  ones,  who  know  not  Love  in  its 
mightiness  and  nearness! 

Again,  one  day,  little  Krishna,  romping 
with  the  playfulness  of  His  earth  years,  heard 
the  weak  voice  of  a  woman  begging  to  sell  her 
wares  of  fruits.  Lean  were  her  hands  and 
shrunken  her  features,  and  her  clothes  were 
poor  and  thin  because  of  the  length  of  time 
they  had  been  worn.  Faint  and  quivering 
the  voice  reached  the  ear  of  Krishna. 

With  the  glance  of  Love  that  warmed  her 
heart,  He  bounded  to  her  side,  asking  for 
fruits  and  giving  her  paddy  instead,  when  lo! 
at  the  touch  of  His  hand  the  face  of  the  woman 
beamed  with  the  light  of  beauty,  her  voice  as 
with  joy  rang  out,  and  her  basket  was  heavy 

50 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

and  filled  with  gems  that  blazed  and  glittered 
in  the  noonday  sun. 

And  laughing,  the  Child  ran  to  his  play- 
mates and  pets  and  divided  the  fruits  with 
them  all. 


51 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Now  came  a  time  when  the  oldest  and  wisest 
of  the  populace  of  the  kingdom  where  Krishna 
was  reared  bethought  it  best  to  take  the  won- 
derful Child  from  the  place  where  men  mar- 
velled at  the  wonder  of  Him  and  came  from 
far  to  look  on  His  face. 

And  anxiety  filled  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
who  loved  Him  best,  for  His  safety,  as  calam- 
ity upon  calamity  came  nigh  Him;  and 
though  no  harm  as  yet  did  betide  Him,  yet  was 
it  only  a  miracle  that  saved  Him  from  the 
child-killer,  Putana. 

And  again  only  the  hand  of  Vishnoo  had 
rescued  Him  from  the  fierce  whirling  dust- 
storm,  and  the  turning  of  the  cart  at  his  side, 
and,  last,  the  two  trees  that  crashed  at  His 
feet,  yet  touched  not  a  hair  of  His  beautiful 
head. 

52 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Yes,  best  by  far  it  was  to  take  away  the 
Child.  So  reasoned  the  elders,  and  Nanda 
approved,  and  forth  they  went  with  attendants 
and  friends  and  all  who  lived  in  Gokula. 

And  a  caravan  they  formed,  the  cowherds 
driving  the  cows  and  calves  before  them,  and 
carts  bearing-  the  women  and  children,  and 
the  men  beating  the  drums  to  the  voices  of  the 
women  that  broke  forth  in  glad  hopefulness. 

And  bright  was  the  sky  that  spanned  their 
heads,  and  rich  the  forests  through  which 
they  passed,  and  life-giving  the  sun  was,  and 
refreshing  the  winds  were  that  greeted  them 
on  the  way  to  Brindaban. 

And  in  the  early  days  of  their  sojourn  in 
these  rich  forests'  depths,  tents  they  erected 
which  soon  were  overspread  with  creepers 
that  abounded  in  that  place,  and  birds  came 
near  and  nested  in  the  tendrils,  and  the  wild 
hare  and  shy  deer  nearer  and  nearer  their  new 
friends  came,  till,  all  tamed  they  would  feed 
from  the  hands  of  the  Gopis  and  played  with 
the  children;  and  thus  in  peace  and  serenity 
they  lived  in  Brindaban. 

Brindaban,  the  Land  of  Love  and  Holiness, 

53 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

the  land  where  Krishna  laughed  and  played, 
the  land  that  the  centre  became  of  all  spirit- 
uality, because  of  His  sojourn  there. 

An  ordinary  boy,  he  walked  with  the  boys, 
as  tender  of  cows  and  calves. 

And  in  a  little  while  the  city  of  Brindaban 
thrived,  and  a  city  of  plenty  it  was  to  all  who 
therein  lived. 

But  as  time  went  on,  even  here  the  dread 
calamities  seemed  to  follow  the  boy  Krishna. 
For  an  Asura,  sent  by  Kangsa,  assumed  the 
form  of  a  calf,  and  strayed  among  the  calves, 
hoping  thus  to  elude  the  eye  of  the  Child  and 
perhaps  take  Him  unawares. 

But  hardly  had  he  mixed  with  the  herds 
when  Krishna  pointed  him  out  and  strode  to 
where  the  calf  was  grazing.  With  easy  grace 
He  lifted  him  by  the  hind  legs  and  twirled  him 
high  in  the  air,  till  lifeless  the  Asura  was. 

Then,  'midst  the  shouts  of  the  cowherd  boys 
and  companions,  He  lifted  His  face  to  the 
skies,  which  opened  wide  to  His  smiling,  eye. 


54 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IN  the  morn  of  summer,  early,  even  before  the 
sun  yet  bathed  the  world  with  its  golden 
warmth,  the  companions  of  Krishna,  aroused 
from  their  slumber  by  the  lowing  of  the  cows, 
would  gather  about  the  house  of  Nanda  and 
wait  for  Krishna  to  come  from  His  bed  and 
go  with  them  to  the  forest  to  tend  the  cows 
and  while  away  the  sweet  hours  of  long  sum- 
mer days  with  sporting  and  tales  and  long 
rambles  together. 

And  oft,  as  they  waited  about  the  gates  of 
the  palace,  Yasoda  would  speak  to  the  waiting 
boys: 

"Ye  children!  my  Krishna  has  not  yet 
opened  His  eyes  to  the  light  of  the  day;  His 
sleep  is  sound,  nor  will  1 4wake  Him,  till  of 
His  own  will  He  comes  from  His  bed;  so  go 
with  the  cows  and  leave  Him  to  me." 

But  the  boys  would  not  stir,  but  would  still 
wait  His  coming. 

55 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

But  the  joy  left  their  eyes,  because  of  their 
longing  to  look  at  the  Boy  who  was  Love. 

And  loud  were  the  cries  that  came  from  the 
boys  as  they  saw  Him  approaching  and  then 
come  in  their  midst,  and  He  with  the  boys  as 
a  boy  would  be. 

And  oft  Yasoda,  the  mother,  who  reared 
Him,  would  take  Him  aside  and  remonstrate 
with  Him  thus :  "O  my  Krishna,  my  son, 
why  wilt  Thou  thus  spend  Thy  time  with  the 
cows  and  the  cowherds?  A  Son  of  the  King 
art  Thou,  O  my  boy,  and  Thy  place  is  not  there 
with  the  cows  in  the  pastures.  Many  servants 
have  we  to  see  to  the  herds.  Come,  take  Thou 
Thy  flute,  bedeck  thyself  with  garments  and 
ornaments  as  it  doth  behoove  my  son  and  a 
prince." 

Then  Krishna,  twining  His  arms  round  the 
neck  of  His  mother,  with  a  world  of  glowing 
love  in  His  visage,  would  gaze  far  away  into 
the  heart  of  His  people  and  reply  to  her  who 
knew  Him  as  son  : 

"O  mother  beloved!  Well  it  is  for  Me,  a 
son  of  a  king,  with  the  people  to  be;  though 

55 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

of  the  palace,  yet  is  My  place  there  where  the 
people  call  unto  Me. 

"A  Tender  am  I  of  the  Flock.  O  My  mother, 
and  to  them  I  must  go,  with  them  must  I  be 
to  teach  them  Myself  and  the  Power  of  Love. 

"Even  now  must  I  go  to  the  calling  hearts, 
who  madly  seek  Me  and  will  not  be  satisfied 
till  again  Me  they  see." 

And  Yasoda,  the  Mother,  in  amazement 
gazed  on  the  face  of  her  son  and  understood 
not  His  prattle  that  such  wisdom  held,  but  the 
tears  of  fond  pride  rose  to  her  eyes,  as  she  saw 
the  love  that  came  from  the  boy  and  enveloped 
Him  as  a  soft  cloud  of  light. 

And  she  kissed  her  son,  seeing  but  in  Him 
a  merry  little  child  bounding  and  throbbing 
with  victorious  health. 

Onward  He  ran  to  greet  His  companions, 
who  were  satisfied  now  as  they  beheld  His 
coming,  and  laughing  the  group  went  to  the 
forest. 

They  played,  burying  their  bare  feet  in  the 
mosses,  rolling  in  the  sweet  grass,  clapping 
their  hands  in  the  fulness  of  joy,  and  shout- 
ing in  very  ecstasy  of  being. 

57 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Never  saw  they  in  Him  the  son  of  a  King. 
They  knew  Him  but  as  a  cowherd  boy  who, 
like  them,  tended  the  cows  in  pastures  and 
forests. 


58 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AGAIN  the  cowherds,  including  Krishna,  went 
with  their  cows  to  give  them  drink,  and  also 
to  quench  their  own  great  thirst.  Sporting  on 
the  banks  of  the  lake,  they  suddenly  saw  a 
monster  crane  coming  towards  them,  with 
great  flapping  wings. 

Affrighted  they  turned,  all  but  Krishna,  to 
flee,  but  ere  a  moment  had  passed,  the  huge 
bird  had  devoured  Krishna. 

But  only  an  instant  "He  was  lost  to  sight, 
for  before  the  boys  knew  what  calamity  had 
come  upon  them,  the  bird  in  great  haste  gave 
up  the  prey  that  brought  to  his  throat  the  sen- 
sation of  burning.  For  when  Krishna  entered 
his  body  it  was  as  if  liquid  fire  poured  all 
through  him. 

Then  seeing  Krishna  again  in  the  midst  of 
the  boys,  lo,  with  the  beak  and  the  talon  he 
again  made  for  Him,  but  Krishna  seized  the 
59 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

beak  with  His  hands  and  ripped  the  great  body 
in  halves,  even  as  women  tear  in  half  fine  linen 
which  requires  no  effort,  and  the  demon  was 
again  allayed. 

Again  it  happened  that  the  boys  with 
Krishna  sought  the  forests,  in  sport  to  engage. 

While  bounding  in  frolicsome  play,  they 
beheld  at  a  distance  a  huge  serpent  stretched 
forth  in  its  length,  like  a  range  of  hills.  Wide 
open  its  mouth  was,  and  close  to  the  path  of 
the  boys  it  lay. 

In  an  instant  within  it  they  walked,  all  but 
Krishna,  who  contemplated  the  monster,  with 
eyes  full  of  power ;  then  straight  into  its  jaws 
He  too  went. 

But  now  the  hideous  serpent  writhed  in  pain 
and,  like  monstrous  bellows,  its  great  sides 
heaved;  for  Krishna  had  expanded  within  its 
throat,  till  it  expired,  shaking  all  the  earth  in 
its  throes  of  death. 

And  the  boys  laughed  in  glee  as  out  of  the 
great  jaws  of  the  serpent  they  walked. 

But  Krishna  lifted  His  eyes  to  the  sky  and 
illumined  all  the  heavens  became.  For  the 
Dispenser  of  all  Light  destroyed  the  evil  that 
r,o 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

sought  to  reign  in  that  land  where  Love  dwelt, 
and  with  mighty  strength  He  felled  the  feeble 
hands  of  Evil  to  the  ground.  For,  where 
Krishna  was,  illumination  was  and  darkness 
could  not  draw  life. 

The  deadly  shade  of  Sin  sought  to  blight 
and  blast  the  garden  where  Truth  bloomed  fair 
and  tall;  but  so  ripe  with  Love  it  was  that  it 
could  not  on  that  soil  take  root,  to  create  its 
evil  nor  yet  prevent  the  good.  For  the 
Knower  of  all  that  is  knowable  saw  with  His 
all-seeing  eye  the  spirit  of  every  stress  and 
storm  and  laid  it  low  ere  its  brewing  began. 

And  thus  His  blessing  gave  increase  to 
plenty,  and  virtue  it  added  unto  good,  and  unto 
them  that  loved  in  that  realm  of  Love,  stones 
were  as  bread,  and  wormwood  as  sweetness 
was. 

Evil  is  sin  and  hateful  to  Love.  And 
Krishna  had  the  longing  and  the  power  He 
wielded  to  save  His  world  from  the  pestilent 
blast  of  the  sin  that  in  boldness  sought  to 
destroy  it. 

As  Love  He  came,  the  Maker  of  Man  and 
of  the  Universe,  to  rescue  man,  His  creation, 
from  the  rottenness  of  his  own  doings. 

61 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

AND  Brahma,  the  Creator,  witnessed  the 
miracles  that  Krishna,  the  Child  and  the 
Youth,  was  performing  hourly  at  His  plays 
and  gambols,  and  marvelled  if  He  the  child 
might  be  that  was  come  to  succour  Mother 
Earth  in  her  trial. 

Surely  sometime,  somewhere,  in  some  place 
it  was  said  that  the  All-Wise  Being,  that  was 
over  all,  as  a  little  child  would  be  born  among 
men  to  save  them  from  their  blinded  selves 
and  turn  them  Godward,  looking  towards 
Home. 

This  he  knew  had  been  said.  Was  this 
child  the  One,  that  the  Eternity  was — He, 
the  Rememberer  of  all  Beings  and  Things? 

He  would  know  it  in  proving  the  power  of 
His  Yoga!  For  if  this  were  the  Absolute 
Lord,  He  alone  would  be  the  Lord  of  the 

Lords  of  all  Yogis ! 

i 

62 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Krishna,  sitting  with  his  boys  in  the  forest, 
discovered  that  the  herds  had  disappeared  from 
their  sight. 

On  seeing  the  alarm  on  the  face  of  His 
friends,  Krishna  exclaimed,  "I  Myself  shall 
fetch  back  the  cows,  so  be  not  anxious,  eat  to 
your  fill  of  the  fruit  you  are  munching." 

He  searched  and  called,  but  the  cows  were 
as  vanished,  and  returning  again  to  His  play- 
mates He  found  they  too  were  missing. 

Then  a  smile,  as  the  sun  doth  break  through 
the  clouds,  shone  on  His  face,  and,  with  Yoga- 
Maya,  He  divided  Himself  into  cowboys  and 
cows  and  even  into  calves,  and  He  Himself 
leading  them  who  were  of  Him,  the  All — He 
returned  with  the  cows  and  the  boys  to  the 
village ! 

But,  mark,  when  the  boys,  that  were  parts 
of  Krishna,  Love-Manifest,  ran  to  the  arms  of 
their  mothers,  a  thrill  that  was  ecstasy  played 
through  their  beings,  and  never  did  mothers 
love  so  their  sons  as  the  mothers  who  held  to 
their  hearts  the  boys  whom  by  His  power  He 
had  made  from  Himself! 

63 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

And  so  it  was  with  the  cows  and  the  calves. 
Those  who  milked  the  cows  were  wild  with  joy 
to  stroke  their  hides  and  feed  them,  and  milk 
of  those  cows  as  nectar  was. 

And  Krishna  stood  with  the  cowboys  among 
the  cows  and  smiled  in  His  wisdom  at  them  all. 

Now  Brahma  knew  that  the  boy  was  the 
Lord,  who  as  child  to  man  had  come,  for  by 
his  Yoga-power  he  had  taken  the  cows  and 
calves  and  boys  to  a  cavern  and  there  put  them 
to  sleep. 

But  Krishna,  to  prove  Himself  the  greatest 
in  power,  had  divided  Himself  into  boys, 
cows,  and  calves,  and  for  one  year  had  been 
'thus. 

When  Brahma  saw  this,  from  trance-sleep 
he  awoke  the  sleepers,  and  bowing  low  to  the 
feet  of  Krishna,  salutation  made  and  thus  did 
burst  forth :  "O  Lord  of  all  Love !  O  Being 
Supreme!  O  Source  of  all  Life  and  Maker 
of  All !  Oft  in  the  eyes  of  my  Yoga,  glimpses 
of  Thee  have  I  caught  and  Thy  loveliness  and 
majesty  transcend  all  beauty. 

"What  is  the  merit  of  the  earth,  that  Thou 
shouldst  bless  it  with  Thy  beautiful  feet? 
64 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"I  have  looked  upon  the  earth  and  have  seen 
Thy  Love  in  all  things,  but  I  perceived  not 
that  Thou  in  Thy  mercy  wouldst  live  among 
men,  even  as  man. 

"Through  Thy  coming  each  heart,  that  a 
hovel  in  poorness  was,  into  a  palace  of  riches 
has  grown. 

"Through  Thy  coming  all  flesh  its  grossness 
has  lost,  since  to  the  eyes  of  man  Thou  seem- 
ingly walkest  in  the  flesh. 

"Thou  who  the  centre  of  Thy  radiance  art, 
yet  walkest  within  that  radiance!  What  is 
the  mystery  of  Thy  great  Self? 

"Thou  who  teachest  the  bird  to  cleave  the 
sky  and  .hath  made  me  the  creater  of  earth  and 
continuest  the  motion  thereof ! 

"Thou  who  the  Concrete  art  and  yet  the 
Abstraction  thereof  dost  prove! 

"Thou  Mystery  of  all  mysteries,  the  Secret, 
the  indistinct  and  yet  the  sublimely  simple 
Parent  of  the  Universe ! 

"Thou  who  art  the  whole  and  yet  the  parts, 
the  immensity  and  yet  the  mote  of  things ! 

"A  poor  groveller  am  I  at  Thy  feet  in  the 

65 


dust!  Why  hast  Thou  blessed  me  to  know 
Thee  thus? 

"Thou  art  the  ocean  of  existence,  and 
Saints  and  Gods  and  men  and  all  Thy  crea- 
tures are  but  the  uncounted  waves  that  play 
and  stretch  and  heave  on  Thy  breast ! 

"From  Thy  abode  hast  Thou  come  of  Thine 
own  sweet  will  to  give  unto  all  the  power  of 
Thy  Love. 

"Dull  were  my  eyes  to  behold  not  in  Thee 
the  Lord,  who  stamped  on  all  things  the  Name 
of  his  Love  and  with  the  Name  its  potency  too. 

"O  Thou  all  Beauty  and  Power  and  Sweet- 
ness and  Strength !  refuse  me  not  the  bliss  to 
dwell  in  homage  at  Thy  feet ! 

"Thou,  who  art  the  cause  of  all  things,  who 
stirrest  the  root  and  stem  of  all  life  into  love, 
who  art  the  indestructible  Truth  of  things, 
Thee  I  meditate  and  worship  forever." 


66 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IN  the  glad  land  of  Brindaban,  the  land  where 
Love  reigned  supreme,  because  of  the  pres- 
ence of  Him  who  was  Love  Personified,  who 
was  Love  Incarnate  and  who  as  a  Boy  did 
bless  the  world  with  His  Being. 

In  that  land,  'mid  childish  sport  and  glad- 
some frolic,  Krishna  grew  into  beauty  of 
youth. 

Day  by  day  the  land  became  more  beautiful 
in  the  joyous  springtime,  and  one  day  His 
brother  Rama,  he  whose  growing  was  beauti- 
ful, and  who,  like  Krishna,  was  marvelled  at 
for  the  wonder  of  his  doings,  said  unto 
Krishna : 

"Does  not  the  smell  of  the  forest  invite  Thee, 
O  brother?  Even  here  the  air  is  heavy  with 
ripeness  of  the  fruit,  that  the  sweet  spring-air 
hath  brought  us.  Shall  we  not  go  and  pluck 
from  the  trees  and  eat  our  fill  of  the  fruits  that 

67 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

are  dropping  on  the  ground  in  luxuriousness 
but  to  become  rotten  ?" 

"Gladly  would  we  go,"  said  the  other  boys, 
"but  we  fear  Dhenuka,  of  the  demon  family, 
who  dwelleth  close  thereby.  It  is  said  that  he 
hath  taken  the  form  of  an  ass  and  though 
he  seemeth  harmless,  yet  hath  he  much  power 
for  evil,  which  he  wieldeth  mightily,  when  he 
hath  a  chance  to  do  so.  So,  though  we  would 
gladly  partake  of  the  fallen  fruit,  yet  do  we 
fear  him.  But  what  sayest  Thou,  Krishna' 
Thou  canst,  if  Thou  wilt,  destroy  all  who  are 
filled  with  hate  and  evil.  Wilt  Thou  and 
Rama  use  your  strength  to  proect  us?" 

"Let  us  away,"  quoth  Krishna,  and  in  a  few 
moments,  heated  and  full  of  laughter,  the  boys 
were  shaking  the  trees  for  the  golden-sided 
fruit,  which  seemed  to  smile  upon  them  in  its 
beauty  of  ripeness. 

But  at  the  first  sound  of  happiness  that 
reached  the  ears  of  the  ass,  he  rushed  in  the 
midst  of  the  youngsters  and  sought  to  destroy 
them,  making  Rama  and  Krishna  the  special 
objects  upon  which  to  vent  'his  hatred  and 
strength. 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

For  a  time  both  boys  dodged  hither  and 
thither,  trying  to  turn  aside  the  anger  of  the 
ass ;  but  seeing  that  it  would  not  be  appeased, 
Rama  caught  him  by  the  hind  legs  and  after 
swinging  him  over  the  heads  of  the  boys  a  few 
times,  he  dashed  his  head  against  the  tree  and 
proceeded  to  aid  the  boys  in  picking  the  fruit. 

The  braying  of  the  ass  had  brought  forth 
the  kith  and  kin  of  the  Asura,  who  dwelt  in 
the  forests  with  him ;  but  they,  too,  in  a  brief 
struggle  were  killed  by  Rama  and  Krishna. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IN  those  days,  when  Love  was  predominant 
and  held  no  place  for  that  which  overcame  and 
destroyed  that  which  could  not  hold  sway 
there,  because  when  love  is  strong  and  active, 
then  doth  evil  become  feeble  and  weak  and 
slinketh  away  into  darkness  and  deep  places, 
where  the  light  of  love  cannot  reach  it  to  reveal 
its  blackness  unto  the  light  of  the  sky. 

In  the  river,  on  whose  bank  Krishna,  Rama 
and  the  cowherd  boys  often  sat  and  sang  the 
deeds  of  their  hero,  there  dwelt  a  huge  serpent 
monster  with  a  thousand  hoods,  who  by  the 
venom  of  his  hideous  body  did  permeate  the 
water  of  the  lake  with  deadly  poison  and  filled 
the  air  of  the  vicinity  with  a  pestilent  atmos- 
phere that  was  deadly  in  its  influence. 

Krishna  one  day  led  the  boys  and  cows  to 
this  pool,  and  they,  being  athirst,  drank  of  the 
deadly  water  that  lay  still  and  without  a  ripple. 
Ever  is  evil  inviting  in  its  outward  calm. 

70 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

But  lo!  in  an  instant,  the  thousand-headed 
monster  lifted  its  hoods,  and  the  deadly  poison 
having  done  its  ghastly  work,  the  boys  and 
cows  lay  on  the  bank  lifeless,  and  motionless 
they  fell  at  the  feet  of  Krishna. 

With  a  glance  of  life-giving  Love  cast  upon 
the  dead  ones,  Krishna  walked  to  a  tree  that 
was  close  by,  while  the  boys,  alive  again,  in 
amazement  and  wonder  gazed  at  each  other, 
forgetting,  in  the  joy  of  the  Love  in  the  look 
that  Krishna  had  cast  upon  them,  the  moment 
before. 

On  reaching  the  top  of  the  tree,  Krishna 
stood  for  an  instant  and  gazed  at  the  boys, 
His  world  and  the  serpent,  and  a  light  as  of 
molten  gold  seemed  to  come  from  that  body, 
more  lovely  than  the  sun  to  look  upon. 

Thus  it  was  for  a  moment,  then  into  the 
deadly  pool  he  plunged,  while  the  thousand 
heads  of  the  serpent  darted  their  venomous 
tongues  and  struck  the  body  till  the  boys  fell 
into  unconsciousness  and  the  cows  groaned  in 
pain,  and  the  men  and  women,  with  eyes  bulg- 
ing with  fear  and  tearing  their  hair,  almost 
swooned  at  the  sight  of  the  boy,  who  was  God, 

71 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

crushed  in  the  poisonous  embrace  of  the  mon- 
ster; yet,  even  as  stricken  with  horror,  they 
gazed. 

Krishna  a  glance  like  light  on  them  cast, 
and  breaking  away  from  the  grasp  of  the  mon- 
ster, He  lightly  sprang  upon  its  hooded  head 
and  danced  like  the  stars  upon  its  hoods,  till 
one  by  one  low  they  were  laid ;  and  vomiting 
blood  that  was  thick  and  black,  defeated  and 
broken,  the  monster  sank  beneath  the  waves. 

And  with  a  bound  Krishna  stood  in  the 
midst  of  His  friends  who  knelt  at  His  feet. 
Then  they  drew  Him  within  their  arms,  in  the 
madness  of  joy  at  His  safety. 


72 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OH,  grand  was  the  sight  of  Love,  crushing  out 
Hate  from  the  land,  and  the  Gods  sang  and 
shouted  and  crowded  together  to  see  Sin  con- 
quered and  Virtue  grow  strong! 

Yasoda  and  Nanda,  with  the  Gopas  and 
Gopis  maddened  with  delight,  took  Krishna 
home,  while  the  heavens  opened  and  scattered 
flowers  to  carpet  His  path. 

And  forever  the  lake  was  free  from  the 
venom  the  serpent  had  cast,  and  the  near-by 
atmosphere  purified  was  from  the  pestilent  in- 
fluence that  hovered  about  there.  For  the 
monster  at  Krishna's  command  had  departed 
and  sought  no  more  to  injure  the  land. 

But  so  great  was  the  happiness  that  over- 
flowed the  heart  of  all,  in  'leading  the  boy 
triumphant  through  the  forest,  that  they  tar- 
ried awhile  in  the  glow  of  the  moon,  in  their 
joy  to  behold  the  beauty  that  filled  the  night. 
73 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

But  far  in  the  distance  a  light  was  seen  that 
spread  wider  and  broader  its  glow,  and  higher 
its  flame  leapt,  and  every  second  nearer  and 
nearer  yet  it  came,  like  a  living  sheet  of  fire. 

And  so  it  was.  A  castor  plantation  a  burn- 
ing world  had  become  and  quickly  surrounded 
the  merrymakers,  who  held  in  their  midst  the 
joy  of  their  hour,  and  they  cried  in  a  fright: 
"O  Krishna,  Thou  Child — or  God,  whatever 
Thou  art,  protect  us  from  this  death  in  this 
roaring  flame.  We  care  not  for  our  lives,  O 
Krishna,  for  they  are  thine  by  our  love  for 
Thee,  but  oh,  the  anguish  the  parting  would 
mean — to  die  and  not  see  Thy  face  again  !  Oh 
Thou,  who  by  Thy  strength  dost  slay  the 
Asuras  and  drive  from  the  land  the  serpent  all 
powerful,  save  us  from  this,  the  parting  with 
Thee  and  Thy  loved  companion  Rama,  he  that 
is  most  like  Thee.  O  Most  Lovely  One,  de- 
liver us,  we  pray !" 

Light  as  a  leaf  in  the  wind  the  Boy  bounded 

to  meet  the  coming  flames.     For  a  moment 

He  stood  in  the  seething  sea  of  fire  and  lifted 

His  hand  on  high,  and  lo,  the  fire  was  not — 

74 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

but  the  flames  were  seen  to  enter  His  mouth ! 
And  again,  with  dancing  and  singing  praise 
to  the  Boy,  they  made  for  His  home  with  joy 
and  delight. 


75 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ONE  summer  day  Krishna  and  Rama  and  their 
companions  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  were 
a-sporting  among  themselves,  when  they  saw 
coming  toward  them  a  stranger,  a  boy,  clad  as 
a  tender  of  cows. 

He  joined  in  the  games  and  soon  all  were 
merry,  but  Krishna,  the  knower  of  all,  and  the 
all-seeing  One,  in  him  beheld  an  Asura,  named 
Pralamba,  who  had  come  in  their  midst  to 
bring  calamity,  though  friendship  he  feigned. 

Krishna  proposed  a  game  to  be  played  by 
dividing  the  boys  into  equal  numbers  and  fight- 
ing, in  sport,  one  with  the  other.  Krishna  was 
chosen  the  leader  on  one  side  and  Rama  the 
leader  on  the  other. 

The  defeated  side,  it  was  proposed,  must 
carry  on  their  backs  the  winners  of  the  vic- 
torious side,  and  so  the  play  began. 

Krishna's    side   was   defeated,   and   it   was 

76 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

ordered   that,    among   others,    Pralamba,   the 
Asura,  carry  Rama  on  his  back. 

Away  went  the  boys,  each  defeated  one  car- 
rying on  his  back  a  winner. 

Suddenly  the  boys  heard  Rama's  voice 
shouting  to  them,  and  behold,  the  Asura,  by 
black  magic  power,  a  giant  had  become  and 
was  flying  through  the  forest  with  Rama  on 
his  back ! 

Krishna  looked  at  them,  then  shouted  to 
Rama :  "Brother,  forget  not  that  Thou  art 
Vishnoo  and  that  I  am  here !" 

In  an  instant  all  fear  left  the  heart  of  Rama, 
and  remembering  who  and  what  he  was,  he 
was  filled  with  Almighty  power  and  felled  the 
giant  with  a  heavy  blow ;  and  the  play  went  on 
as  before. 

Another  time  the  cows  strayed  into  the  for- 
ests and  were  overtaken  by  a  great  conflagra- 
tion, and  like  wild  beasts  they  leaped  and  bel- 
lowed through  the  forest. 

The  boys  followed  and  called,  but  onward 
the  cows  plunged,  nor  heeded  their  voices,  till 
Krishna's  voice  they  heard;  then  turning  they 
gathered  about  Him,  seeing  naught  but  the 

77 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

love  and  power  in  His  eyes.  For  the  brute  is 
ever  stilled  by  the  might  of  Love ;  unlike  man 
it  knoweth  its  power  and  yieldeth  to  its  force. 
But  the  boys  still  turned  towards  Krishna, 
full  of  fear  of  the  conflagration  that  threatened 
to  envelop  them.  He  looked  at  them  all,  and 
their  fear  was  allayed.  Then  He  gazed  at  the 
fire  and  asked  the  boys  their  eyes  to  close. 
This  they  did,  and  when  they  looked  again, 
the  flames  were  no  more  to  be  seen. 

Such  was  the  Yoga-power  of  Sree  Krishna, 
and  the  boys  seeing  His  wonderful  acts  knew 
that  Krishna  was  more  than  boy. 

And  joyous  were  they  and  gathered  flowers 
and  leaves  that  grew  in  great  abundance  at  the 
foot  of  the  trees,  and  they  all  wove  them  into 
garlands  of  white,  purple,  and  red,  and  wound 
them  about  Krishna's  neck,  and  also  bedecked 
each  other  with  flowers  and  threw  wreaths 
about  the  cows'  necks  and  the  calves'  and 
homeward  they  wended  their  way  in  the  twi- 
light, just  as  the  sun  was  sinking  to  rest. 

The  birds  ceased  their  sleepy  chirp  and 
opened  their  eyes  wide,  and  sleep  left  the 
flowers  that  nodded  near  the  roadside,  and  the 

78 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

sun  stood  in  space  a  moment  to  watch  the  pro- 
cession that  galloped  down  the  road. 

Krishna,  the  Beautiful,  came  in  the  lead, 
bedecked  and  beflowered.  The  spirit  of  life 
He  was,  with  a  transfiguring  glory  in  His  face, 
and  His  eyes  full  of  softness  and  love-light, 
His  body  all  graceful  in  curves  to  behold,  yet 
strong  in  the  vigor  of  youth,  that  shone 
through  its  grace. 

With  His  hands  on  the  necks  of  His  two 
favorite  cows,  those  who  ever  followed  Him 
about  as  a  child,  the  white  on  His  right  side, 
the  black  on  His  left,  homeward  they  ran,  while 
the  white  dust  arose  and  covered  and  caressed 
them ;  one  after  the  other,  each  bedecked  with 
garlands,  and  each  boy  between  two  cows,  who 
like  them  were  wreathed  with  wild  flowers. 

And  the  elder  Gopis  and  Gopas  held  their 
breath  at  the  sight,  so  entrancing,  that  reached 
their  eyes  at  the  home-coming  of  the  boys  and 
their  cows,  bedecked  and  beflowered  with  the 
sweet  wild  flowers,  and  headed  by  Him  whom 
they  loved. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THUS  spring  ripened  into  summer  and  autumn, 
and  again  the  rolling  seasons  touched  upon  the 
heels  of  one  another;  and  Krishna  grew  into 
greater  beauty  with  each  season  of  His  earthly 
career. 

More  and  more  the  people  of  Brindaban  be- 
came absorbed  in  Him.  The  young  and  old, 
those  near  and  far,  looked  upon  Him  as  one 
without  whom  they  could  not  exist. 

And  so  it  was,  the  complete  whole  was  He 
of  whom  they  were  but  parts,  and  ever  were 
they  reaching  to  again  find  the  Heart  out  of 
which  they  had  sprung. 

His  smile  was  to  them  the  sun  that  warmed, 
His  words  the  flowers  which  filled  them  with 
joy,  His  deeds  the  fruits  which  satisfied  the 
hunger  of  their  hearts. 

The  very  quick  of  their  lives  He  was;  and 
nothing  lived,  breathed,  bloomed,  or  grew  in 
Brindaban,  from  the  people  to  the  cattle,  creep- 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

ing  things  and  all  that  grew,  that  did  not  draw 
life  from  the  Lord  that  dwelt  as  Youth  among 
them. 

And  the  milk-maids,  who  in  loving  com- 
panionship oft  with  him  roamed  to  the  hillside 
where  with  the  other  boys  he  tended  the  cattle, 
would  in  fond  love  contemplate  the  Youth, 
knowing  not  what  the  potency  was  that  drew 
them,  forgetful  of  all  duties,  to  His  side. 

And  among  themselves  they  would  speak 
thus:  "Oh,  how  sweet  is  the  hillside,  when 
Krishna  is  near,  how  sublime  is  His  coun- 
tenance and  His  eyes  how  beautiful  with  pierc- 
ing love-light  filled!  Serene  doth  He  stand, 
yet  bewilderingly  entrancing  is  the  joy  that 
comes  to  our  souls  by  His  glances  that  seek  us 
in  softness  and  kindness." 

"Was  aught  as  beautiful,"  they  were  wont 
to  say,  "as  our  Krishna,  clothed  in  blue  and 
gold,  with  the  crown  of  peacock  feathers  on 
His  brow  and  a  garland  of  fresh  flowers  fes- 
tooned from  His  shoulders?  Why  is  it,  that 
flowers  that  girdle  Him  thus  never  fade  or 
wither  or  die,  but  deeper  their  colors  and 
stronger  their  petals  and  sweeter  their  fra- 
81 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

grance  are,  when  in  contact  with  Him  they 
have  come  ?  And  the  fields  where  He  walketh, 
see  how  they  smile  and  give  their  treasures  in 
greater  abundance !  And  the  rivers  close  by, 
they  rise  high  on  our  land,  as  if  to  dwell  longer 
on  our  banks,  because  our  Krishna  is  here. 

"At  the  notes  of  his  flute,  all  exquisite,  whose 
potent  spell  must  charm  all  the  living,  see  how 
His  cattle  do  greet  Him  and  tremble  and  thrill 
at  the  sound  of  the  music !  And  even  the  un- 
tamed things  of  the  forest,  with  wistful  look 
and  nostrils  spread,  unbidden  and  unafraid, 
do  stand  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  as  if  drawn 
and  subdued  by  the  influence  of  His  love- 
sound  ! 

"Oh,  the  sound  of  His  flute  is  proof  against 
the  iron-moulded  mind  and  can  soothe  a  very 
giant  of  fierceness  into  gentleness  by  its  sweet- 
ness !  Checked  is  every  fear,  and  rebellion  is 
laid  low  in  every  heart,  and  a  kingdom  of  love 
every  home  becomes  wherein  that  sound  hath 
pierced.  Ofttimes  it  seemeth  that  time  itself 
doth  suit  its  step  to  keep  pace  with  its  rhythm, 
for,  note  ye  not,  how  the  sun  doth  stand,  loath 
to  move,  lest  the  sight  and  sound  it  loseth  ? 

82 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"Oh,  why  are  we  not  the  flute  He  holds  to 
His  lips!  Blessed  beyond  all  things  it  is,  for 
His  kisses  it  receives,  and  drinks  the  nectar  of 
His  love  to  its  fill.  What  wonder  that  it  joys 
to  give  the  sound  forth  that  His  breath  doth 
make ! 

"Or,  why  are  we  not  the  trees,  under  which 
-  He  sitteth  and  whose  branches  He  counteth 
with  happy  gaze,  or  even  the  grass,  where  He 
reclineth,  that  hath  the  dear  privilege  to  caress 
His  sweet  body  in  lowly  love?  But  we  can 
only  look  on  His  face  and  die  with  longing, 
when  from  Him  we  go." 

Thus  spake  the  maids,  but  their  tongues 
could  not  tell  what  bliss  overflowed  the  heart, 
welling  up  with  love  for  Him,  who  wakened 
in  every  heart  the  love  that  was  all  divine, 
— from  the  babe's  first  smile  to  the  man  who 
looked  first  on  the  glorious  earth,  and  then  to 
the  arched  sky,  and  then  in  His  heart,  and 
found  there  a  sum  of  love  that  was  all  bliss. 

In  Krishna,  the  Youth,  who  played  the  flute 
in  the  forests  by  night,  on  the  hillside  by  day, 
in  Him,  who  charmed  all  that  was,  they  beheld 
the  fulness  of  Love. 

83 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

He  gave  them  and  received  all  bliss.  He 
was  the  Spring  of  Love  that  had  the  more  for 
the  giving.  He  satisfied  the  most  when  many 
did  draw  from  His  well-spring. 

To  the  heart  of  all  mothers  He  came  as  a 
child,  and  in  tenderness  and  joy  they  caressed 
Him  as  such.  Like  a  flower  dropped  untouched 
from  heaven  they  held  Him. 

The  men  He  approached  as  a  friend  and  a 
son,  and  gave  and  received  the  love  that  they 
craved  and  felt. 

The  servant  too  He  met  in  the  way  He 
sought  to  be  known,  and  by  Him  he  was  served 
and  did  serve. 

Thus  to  all  He  gave  what  they  craved  to 
have.  Unstinted,  unfettered  He  was  in  the 
giving,  and  none  was  there  in  all  that  land 
that  sought  and  could  not  find  what  their  hearts 
did  seek. 

And  to  the  maids  who  opened  their  pure 
young  hearts  for  the  all-enduring  mysterious 
love,  He  gave,  of  His  inexhaustible  source,  the 
sweet  touch  that  harmonized  all  tilings  and 
made  the  heaven  and  earth  to  meet. 

All  kindred  were  they,  for  He  was  their 
84 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Parent,  and  their  love  was  but  part  of  His  holy 
flame. 

And  with  the  light  from  that  flame  there 
awakened  within  them  that  which  knew  but 
Love,  which  was  but  Love;  and  Krishna  it 
was  who  filled  all  their  being,  and  outward 
consciousness  to  them  was  lost. 

Hail  to  thy  maiden-love,  O  Gopi !  Thy  love 
the  triumph  of  man  and  God !  The  crown  of 
Time's  blessedness  it  was !  O  climax  of  Hap- 
piness Complete ! 


85 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WHEN  the  days  of  fasting  came,  the  Gopis,  as 
the  Scriptures  commanded,  began  their  wor- 
ship by  taking  their  baths  in  the  sacred  river 
Jumna. 

O  happy  waves,  more  holy  made  by  the 
maids,  who  stood  in  prayers  in  thy  beds  and 
threw  on  thy  bosom  the  sweetest  flowers  that 
grew  where  Krishna's  feet  had  fallen ! 

Thus  they  worshipped  each  day  for  a  month 
in  the  early  morn  ere  the  sun  was  seen,  singing 
on  their  way  the  songs  of  love  and  praise  for 
Krishna,  who  was  the  first  and  the  last  and 
middle  of  all  their  day. 

One  morning  whilst  sporting  and  singing  in 
the  clear  cooling  waters,  they  beheld  on  the 
limbs  of  a  tree  close  by  the  youth  Krishna, 
enthroned  in  its  branches  and  holding  their 
wearing  apparel  in  His  hands. 

Crowned  as  usual  with  flowers  was  He,  but  a 
look  all  majestic  was  in  His  eye. 

86 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Affrighted  with  shame  they  begged  for  their 
garments,  but  Krishna  replied:  "Come  and 
get  your  garments  either  in  a  body  or  singly, 
O  damsels,  and  salute  to  the  sun  shining  over 
My  head  as  near  you  approach." 

For  a  moment  they  hesitated;  then  that 
which  as  a  shadow  had  crossed  their  heart, 
and  is  known  as  shame,  departed  from  them, 
and  saluting  forward  they  came  in  a  body  led 
by  Radha,  the  loveliest  and  chiefest  of  the 
milk-maids,  and  dripping  and  lovely  before 
Him  they  stood.  Completely  they  had  surren- 
dered their  human  will  to  the  will  of  Him  who 
was  Divinity. 

Selfless,  unyoked  from  all  that  was  worldly, 
before  Him  they  stood.  Uncovered  and  free 
as  they  came  from  His  Heart,  again  on  that 
Heart  they  gazed  unashamed,  for  their  souls 
were  not  covered  with  vice,  or  with  piety,  or 
even  with -virtue,  but  were  bare  as  the  Love 
upon  which  they  looked. 

They  received  the  garments  that  He  for  them 
had.  He,  Krishna,  the  source  of  pure  Love 
was,  and  His  garments  to  them  were  spiritual 
purity,  and  clothing  themselves  with  the 

87 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

clothes  of  His  giving,  they  joyfully  went  to 
the  homes  of  their  fathers. 

While  Krishna,  surveying  His  world,  was 
enthroned  in  His  kingdom  of  Love,  and  as  the 
Gopis  came  to  the  feet  of  Him,  who  was  the 
author  of  all  Love,  so  all  must  come  empty 
and  free  from  all  earthly  desires  to  accept  that 
Love  for  Love's  sake. 

For  naught  cared  the  Gopis  but  Krishna, 
desiring  naught  else  beside !  So  only  can  Love 
Absolute  be  gained  in  absolute  self-surrender. 

He  who  would  have  that  Love  that  is  its  own 
enjoyment,  that  Love  that  a  universe  unto 
itself  is,  doth  not  find  it  easy  to  obtain  it  by 
merit  of  piety  or  even  the  fruition  of  highest 
spirituality. 

The  bounds  of  all  spirituality  it  must  pass 
to  become  the  Absolute  and  Causeless  Love. 
Where  spirituality  ends,  there  causeless  Love 
doth  begin ! 

All  love  that  hath  a  cause  is  of  earth !  Love 
that  hath  even  a  high  spiritual  cause  is  limited 
in  scope,  and  such  love  may  vanish  when  its 
cause  is  removed. 

88 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

But  the  Love  that  is  Causeless,  All  Endur- 
ing is. 

It  fadeth  not,  neither  doth  it  pass  away,  but 
by  day  and  by  night  and  throughout  all  time 
it  waketh  and  accumulateth  ever,  for  it  is  the 
Love  Absolute ! 

From  the  souls  of  the  Gopis  the  last  trace 
of  heaven  and  earth  had  vanished,  and  being 
resplendent  with  the  glory  of  this  Love  Abso- 
lute, of  the  Love  that  was  unto  itself  substance 
and  satisfaction,  was  the  causeless  cause  for 
this  Gift  of  all  gifts  from  the  hand  of  Him 
who  alone  could  bestow  it  and  alone  was  that 
Love  Itself. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  summer  sun  beat  down  fiercely  upon  the 
Gopas  and  the  cattle,  when  Krishna  turned  to 
them,  saying : 

"See  the  wonder  of  these  trees!  Kind,  be- 
yond expression,  are  they.  They  ask  for 
naught,  but  what  the  earth,  sky,  and  sun,  the 
night  and  day  give  unto  them ;  yet  in  all  loyalty 
they  grow  and  give  shade  unto  us,  and  unto  all 
that  wish  to  partake  of  their  shade. 

"Their  fruits  also  do  they  give  and  their  bark 
and  leaves  and  juices,  to  all  who  desire  it. 

"So  should  man  also  be,  but  few  are  there 
among  men  that  live  but  to  bestow  blessings 
upon  others. 

"Yet  unto  you,  I  say:  O  my  loved  com- 
panions, only  unto  them  that  give  of  their 
abundance  to  all  that  come  within  their  radius, 
unto  them  alone  is  life  a  blessing  and  not  a 
curse. 

"All  men  are  placed  here  not  of  their  own 

90 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

free  will,  not  yet  unto  themselves,  but  by  the 
will  of  Love  and  for  others. 

"And  only  as  the  law  of  give  and  take  is 
set  in  operation  among  men,  is  man  living  a 
natural  life. 

"Ofttimes  doth  the  man  wonder  why  he  is 
unto  himself  a  huge  perplexity. 

"It  is  only  when  he  forgets  his  relationship 
to  all  mankind  that  his  life  a  riddle  is,  and 
this  being  so,  he  comprehendeth  not  the 
Maker  of  himself  nor  the  universe,  and  failing 
to  do  so,  how  can  he  know  life  aright?" 

After  sporting  among  themselves,  the  boys 
spoke  to  Krishna,  saying: 

"O  Krishna !  a-hungered  are  we ;  where,  oh 
where  shall  we  find  food?  Canst  Thou  not 
assist  us?" 

And  Krishna  answered  them,  saying:  "Go 
thou  yonder  where  many  Brahmans  are  per- 
forming religious  ceremonies ;  go  to  them  and 
in  My  name  say  unto  them  to  supply  us  with 
food.  Say  unto  them  that  Krishna  is  wanting, 
and  ask  them  therefor." 

The  boys  went;  but  when  they  delivered 
unto  them  the  message  of  Krishna,  the  Brah- 

91 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

mans  answered  not,  neither  gave  them  the  food 
they  wished,  but  proceeded  with  the  cere- 
monies that  were  to  give  them  the  taste  of 
Heaven,  after  the  breath  had  left  their  bodies. 

Tired  and  half  famished  the  boys  returned 
unto  Krishna  and  told  Him  of  their  failure  to 
obtain  food  and  also  of  the  indifference  with 
which  the  Brahmans  had  received  His  message. 

Then  Krishna  smiled  wisely  and  told  them 
to  hurry  to  the  wives  of  the  Brahmans.  He 
knowing  that  women  are  ever  devotional  and 
have  illumination,  while  ofttimes  men  in  dark- 
ness are. 

And  so  it  was.  On  hearing  Krishna's  re- 
quest, they  themselves  hastened  to  Him,  in 
spite  of  the  protestations  and  threats  of  the 
men  of  the  families,  and  brought  food  of  the 
finest  sorts  unto  Him,  and  prostrating  them- 
selves before  Him,  spake:  "O  Krishna! 
Thou  Maker  of  all  there  is !  Blessed  are  we 
and  ours  that  Thou  hast  called  upon  us  to 
serve  Thee!  We  know  Thee,  O  Krishna,  as 
one  greater  and  nearer  to  us  than  our  husbands, 
brothers  and  fathers;  and  even  at  the  risk  of 
their  displeasure  to  us,  we  come  to  Thee  to 

92 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

lay  at  Thy  feet  our  poor  offerings  and  our 
hearts." 

Krishna  answered:  "O  women!  Noble 
and  true  are  ye  to  Me.  Ye  in  your  devotions 
have  learned  to  know  Me  as  your  soul ! 
Dearer  to  ye  am  I,  even  than  father,  husband 
and  friends,  hence  at  the  risk  of  even  their 
displeasure  do  yet  seek  to  serve  Me. 

"I  draw  unto  Me  all  that  reach  towards  Me ! 
Blessed  are  ye  among  men !  Go  back  to  those 
who  are  performing  the  ceremonies  and  aid 
them  in  their  rituals.  Kindly  shall  they  receive 
ye,  and  unto  them  will  ye  take  My  love  even 
as  unto  ye  all  I  bestow  it." 

When  He  saw  the  reluctance  with  which 
they  departed  from  Him,  He  said:  "Know 
that  in  the  Kingdom  of  Love  separation  can- 
not be,  and  whatever  heart  doth  meditate  on 
Me,  in  that  heart  I  dwell  in  all  My  glory. 

"Again,  oh  know,  that  by  deeds  I  reckon 
ever  and  not  by  words.  Ye  have  served  Me  by 
deeds,  your  husbands  in  their  ignorance  by 
words  alone.  But  do  ye  go  unto  them  and 
they  too  shall  know  and  love  the  Name  of 
Krishna." 

ye 


SREE  KRISHNA. 

And  the  women  returned  unto  their  hus- 
bands who  received  them  with  demonstrations 
of  pleasure,  and  they  too  worshipped  Krishna 
in  their  homes  and  hearts. 


94 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

WHEN  the  summer  was  over,  one  day  Krishna 
saw  that  great  preparations  were  being  made 
for  the  celebration  of  ceremonies  in  honor  of 
one  of  the  gods. 

Clothed  in  seeming  ignorance,  Krishna  said 
to  Nanda : 

"Why  these  preparations,  O  father,  and  for 
whom  are  they  made,  and  what  is  the  potency 
thereof?    Is  it  a  custom  that  through  all  time 
hath  been  observed,  or,  tell  me,  do  the  Scrip- 
tures demand  that  these  ceremonies  be  held?" 
Then  Nanda,  answering,  said :     "We  offer 
to-day  sacrifices  to  him,  the  go3  of  the  clouds, 
to  him  who  watereth  our  hill-sides  and  giveth 
drink  to  our  crops  and  out  cattle,  to  him,  Indra, 
the  god  who  promoteth  all  growth  by  the  bless- 
ing of  rain,  which  he  doth  supply.    A  jealous 
,god  is  he,  O  my  Krishna,  and  desires  that  cere- 
ononials  and  sacrifices  often  are  made ;  and  we 

95 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

in  all  humbleness  strive  to  appease  him,  that 
in  his  wrath  he  may  not  withhold  the  moisture 
from  our  land,  nor  yet  flood  us  with  over  much 
rain." 

Then  Krishna  replied:  "My  father,  He, 
who  is  the  Author  of  All,  doth  give  unto  all 
what  is  needed. 

"He  that  in  wrath  withholdeth  a  blessing,  he 
never  the  love  of  creation  hath  known;  nor 
doth  he  destroy  what  he  hath  created. 

"For  the  Creator  doth  ever  love  His  cre- 
ation; for  that,  which  from  Him  hath  come, 
must  forever  belong  to  Him  and  the  part  is  of 
His  Great  Whole. 

"So  Indra  cannot  curse  this  land  by  over- 
much rain  or  dearth  of  it. 

"But,  O  my  father,  tell  the  Gopas  and  Gopis 
to  cease  the  preparations  and  worship  not  one 
who  would  destroy  that  which  he  should  for- 
ever bless. 

"But  come  to  the  hillside  that  entwines  our 
land,  the  hills  and  plains  that  furnish  us  with 
sustenance  for  our  cattle,  and  to  the  forests, 
too,  where  fruits  grow  in  plenty  and  give  of 
their  abundance  to  all  who  but  take  it. 

96 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"Come  there  and  give  to  the  hill  and  the  trees 
our  sacrifices  of  joy  and  love,  and  feed  the 
cows  with  offerings  of  fresh  grasses,  and  walk 
with  me  around  the  hill  in  ceremonial  pro- 
cession and  we  shall  see  their  worth  and  their 
kindness." 

They  did  so,  and  Krishna  said  unto  them : 

"I  am  the  Hill  and  the  good  that  therefrom 
doth  come."  And  his  body  became  of  a  height 
and  length  that  the  eye  of  man  scarce  could 
measure,  and  said :  "Do  ye  salute  it  and  par- 
take of  its  good!" 

At  that  the  rain  poured  down  from  the  skies 
in  fearful  abundance  and  the  people  in  fear  fled 
to  their  houses,  afraid  of  the  wrath  of  Indra. 

Seven  days  it  poured  and  threatened  to  flood 
all  the  land.  But  Krishna  smiled  at  the  wrath 
of  Indra,  as  he  poured  down  his  mighty  rains 
and  rolled  his  thunder  in  threatening  claps 
above  the  heads  of  the  affrighted  people,  who 
had  dared  to  neglect  the  sacrifices  to  him  who 
through  all  ages  had  been  honored  by  them. 

In  their  calamity  the  people  sought  out 
Krishna,  whom  they  found  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  Gobardhana. 

97 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

The  light  of  His  body  lit  the  darkness  of 
night  far  more  than  the  flashes  of  Indra's 
wrath  that  in  lightning  burst  forth.  "O 
Krishna !"  they  cried,  "Thou  who  by  Thy  Yoga 
power  can  assume  the  form  of  a  mountain  at 
will,  Thou  who  dost  drive  from  the  path  of 
Thy  feet  all  that  unlike  Thy  sweet  will  is,  save 
us  from  the  wrath  of  him  who  even  now  doth 
seek  to  drive  us  from  out  of  life." 

And  Krishna  lifted  His  hand  and  eye,  and 
lo,  all  their  fear  was  allayed. 

Then  all  the  world  grew  light  as  day  from 
the  glory  that  radiated  from  His  body,  and  by 
His  Yoga  power  He  lifted  the  hill  itself  from 
off  its  base  and  held  it  on  high,  on  the  tip  of 
his  fifth  finger,  even  as  the  beetle  doth  hold  on 
his  horns  the  leaf  that  covereth  him  com- 
pletely. 

The  people  gathered  beneath  the  hill  with 
their  children  and  cattle.  Seven  days  they 
were  there,  and  seven  days  Krishna  held  the 
hill  above  their  heads,  while  the  light  that  came 
from  His  smile  illuminated  all  the  space  be- 
tween the  hill  and  its  foundation. 

Then  Indra,  amazed,  looked  down  from  his 

98 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

clouds  and  knew  that  the  Lord  of  All  was 
there,  and  had  baffled  his  attempt  to  destroy 
what  He,  the  Lord  of  all  Love,  had  created. 
And  the  rain  ceased  its  downpcuring  and  the 
rivers  became  calm  and  the  sun  in  its  glory 
burst  forth  again.  And  flowers  uplifted  their 
water-drenched  heads  and  the  trees  sprang 
back  storm-tossed  no  more. 

And  Krishna  said  to  those  whom  he  had 
sheltered : 

"Depart  in  peace,  and  fear  no  more  the  wrath 
of  him  who  thought  to  destroy  where  he  could 
not  give  life." 

And  Indra,  the  god  of  the  clouds,  descended 
to  earth,  and  falling  at  the  feet  of  Him,  in  ab- 
ject humility  said : 

"O  Lord !  Thou  art  the  Holy  One !     Puffed 

>2 

up  and  proud  was  I  in  my  power  and  saw  my- 
self greater  even  than  Thou. 

"Well  know  I  now  that  Love  is  the  greatest 
power;  and  I,  in  my  smallness  of  godship, 
insolent  and  destructive  became.  I  sought  the 
praise  that  is  ever  due  to  Thee,,  O  Lord  of 
Love;  for  unto  resistless  Love  alone  praise 
should  be  given.  But  my  vanity  and  pride  I 

99 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

tried  to  shield  by  the  power  which  Thou  didst 
endow  me  with. 

"I  thought  that  I  it  was  who  brought  the 
life  to  all  trees  and  by  my  power  kept  the  hills 
in  green  and  the  forests  in  wondrous  foliage, 
and  gave  drinks  to  the  cows  and  plenty  to  the 
rivers.  And  for  it  I  longed  to  see  men  per- 
form the  ceremonies  and  pray  to  me. 

"But  to  Thee,  O  Lord  of  Love!  is  due  all 
the  glory;  by  Thee  alone  am  I  invested  with 
power.  Do  Thou  in  Thy  greatness  forgive  me, 
while  I  in  humbleness  do  bow  to  Thy  Lotus 
Feet." 

And  Krishna  threw  a  glance  at  Indra  that 
filled  him  with  a  great  wild  joy,  and  said : 

"O  Indra!  Though  I  invested  thee  with 
sovereignty  by  My  will,  be  not  overfull  of 
pride!  For  this  I  have  stopped  the  cere- 
monies, so  that  thou  mayest  learn  to  know  Me, 
whom  thou  in  thy  prosperity  hadst  quite  for- 
gotten. 

"Go  to  thy  abode,  Indra,  rule  thy  dominion ; 
but  know  ever  that  pride  and  vanity  are  with- 
out power,  and  that  Love  alone  is  mighty. 
100 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"To  lighten  the  burdens  of  all  My  world,  I 
have  come  to  earth. 

"I  now  lift  from  thee  the  load  which  hath 
caused  thee  to  forget  Me,  and,  in  forgetting 
Me,  to  have  lost  the  beauty  which  was  born 
of  Me." 

And  with  the  halo  of  joy  about  him,  Indra 
returned  to  his  abode,  endowed  with  greater 
power. 


101 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

AND  now  autumn,*  the  sweetest  and  richest 
season  of  all  the  glad  year,  had  come ;  and  the 
brow  of  Brindaban  was  fair  to  look  upon. 

Peace  and  love  stood  on  every  threshold  and 
walked  on  every  roadway,  and  all  lifted  up 
their  voices,  and  the  words  of  their  gladness 
was  LovCj  Love ! 

In  the  hearts  of  all  the  song  rose  and  showed 
them  pleasant  ways  and  haunts  that  ended  in 
Bliss.  Men  knew  gratitude  and  justice,  which 
are  the  attributes  of  Love. 

Love  walked  on  earth  and  left  its  blessing  in 
its  trail !  The  flowers  whispered  their  love  to 
one  another  and  the  dew  clung  closer  to  their 
petals,  because  of  the  warmth  of  their  love. 

All  the  land  seemed  to  have  ripened  into  the 
deepest  beauty,  for  the  Beauty  of  Love  here 
was  King. 


*  The  first  part  of  the  Indian  Autumn  which  comes  after  the  Rainv 
Season. 

102 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

And  Krishna  was  King;  and  reigned  in  every 
heart,  and  all  bowed  before  the  majesty  of  the 
beauty  of  His  Love. 

A  substitute  it  was  for  all  things  and  satisfied 
the  want  of  each  heart,  entrancing  every  object 
and  person  by  its  beauty. 

O  wonder  of  Love,  that  expanded  each  soul 
and  made  it  a  world  of  joy  and  bliss ! 

In  this  happy  time,  when  the  moon  was  full, 
Krishna  recalled  a  promise  He  had  made  to 
the  Gopis  to  reward  them  richly  for  their  love 
for  Him. 

So,  taking  His  flute,  He  went  to  the  forests 
and  stood  on  the  brow  of  the  hill. 

All  about  the  white  moonlight  lay,  bathing 
in  silver  the  fruit  trees  in  blossom;  soft  the 
winds  were,  and  rich  the  fragrance  that  they 
brought  on  their  breezes. 

The  noises  of  night  alone  could  be  heard. 

And  surveying  His  world  with  love-filled 
eyes,  Krishna  took  up  His  flute  and  poured 
forth  the  strains  that  never  were  heard  by  man 
or  god  until  that  night  on  the  moon-kissed  hill, 
when  all  Brindaban  in  peace  did  smile. 

At  the  sound  of  those  strains,  all  earth  was 

103 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

thrilled  in  ecstasy.  The  rocks  melted  in  love; 
the  trees  trembled,  and  the  flowers  fell  on  the 
earth,  and  men  and  beasts  all  pain  forgot. 

And  the  Gopis  knew  that  Call  of  Love.  Nor 
heeded  they  duties,  or  father,  or  husband,  or 
children,  but  turning  their  heart  to  the  sound  of 
the  flute,  they  followed  their  heart  to  Krishna's 
Feet. 

At  the  first  note,  she  who  was  feeding  her 
household,  dropped  her  food  and  followed  the 
sound ;  and  she  who  was  nursing  her  babe,  put 
her  babe  from  her  breast  and  answered  the 
call ;  another  came  with  toilet  incomplete. 

All  forsook  duties,  husband  and  children,  to 
find  Him  who  drew  them  by  the  sound  that  was 
made  by  His  Love. 

Separately  they  came,  none  observing  the 
other.  Over  thorns  and  briars  and  stones  they 
walked;  sharp  twigs  caught  their  hair, 
branches  detained  them;  yet  heeded  they  not 
these  obstacles,  but  onward  they  went  with 
hands  torn  and  feet  bleeding  and  garments 
rent  and  missing,  till  they  stood  at  the  hill 
where  Sree  Krishna  played  and  drew  from  the 

104 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

flute  the  music  entrancing,  at  which  all  the 
rocks  and  earth  did  thrill. 

With  eyes  maddened  with  love  they  gazed  on 
Him  there !  A  wondrous  vision  was  He ! 

The  light  of  the  noon-day  radiated  from 
Him,  and  His  beautiful  eyes  with  mysterious 
glances  fell  on  their  souls  like  holy  balm ! 

And  at  that  glance  their  souls  were  en- 
tranced and  deepened  and  became  as  if  one 
with  Him  and  drank  of  the  love  that  from 
Him  poured ;  and  all  that  in  them  unlike 
Him  was,  became  as  pure  as  He. 

And  that  which  in  them  unlike  that  Love 
was,  from  out  of  their  hearts  had  flown ;  and 
made  pure  and  transparent  in  that  glad  place, 
they  drank  of  that  love  which  doth  chain  all 
creation  to  its  Creator — Love. 

Entirely  blessed,  they  sought  no  more,  nor 
hoped  they  more ;  for  each  held  Perfection  in 
her  eyes,  and  each  knew  Perfect  Love  in  her 
heart. 


105 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

SILENT  they  stood  and  gazed  on  the  Beauty, 
the  concentrated  love  of  a  world  in  each  eye. 

A  spiritual  force  that  swept  from  its  path  all 
matter  was  theirs,  as  they  beheld  that  Centre 
to  which  their  hearts  did  gravitate. 

The  strains  of  the  flute  that  made  the 
heaven  to  bend  to  the  earth,  that  brought  the 
stars  closer  to  the  hillsides,  and  drew  the  gods 
from  their  abodes  of  light,  had  ceased;  and 
the  voice  of  Him  that  was  All-Love  fell  on  the 
ears  of  the  Gopis  in  sound  a*  sweet  as  the 
flute's  dear  strains : 

"O  Gopis  mine,  maids  of  Braja !  My  peace 
and  greeting  be  with  you  all!  But  why  are 
ye  'here  one  and  all  ?  Tell  Me  this ! 
;  "The  hour  is  late,  and  your  homes  at  a  dis- 
tance are,  and  the  forests  are  dark,  and  wild 
beasts  are  in  plenty.  And  alone  ye  have  come 
without  husband,  or  father! 

"What  is  it,  pray  tell  Me,  that  brings  you 

106 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

here  ?  Is  it  love  for  Me  that  brings  you  here  ? 
I  draw  all  to  Myself  and  all  love  Me. 

"But,  O  Gopis  dear,  the  Scriptures  ever  have 
said  that  the  chaste  woman  leaveth  not  her 
husband,  father  and  babe,  to  look  on  the  face 
of  a  youth. 

"Pure  are  your  hearts,  I  know ;  but  it  is  not 
good  that  ye  come  to  Me,  and  it  looseneth  your 
chances  to  reach  that  place  where  all  of  your 
hearts  do  long  to  dwell,  when  to  your  bodies 
ye  have  said  farewell. 

"Perhaps  ye  have  come  to  see  the  forest,  sil- 
vered by  the  autumn  full  moon !  Or  mayhap 
to  greet  the  breezes  that  come  from  the  hill- 
sides! Or  the  blossoms  of  the  trees  that 
grace  its  sides  to  behold!  If  this  be  so,  now 
ye  have  seen  them,  depart  to  your  homes,  lest 
the  hearts  of  your  friends  be  alarmed  at  your 
absence." 

The  bevy  of  women,  that  crowded  about 
Him,  grew  pale  with  pain  and  ashen  with  fear. 
Tears  came  to  their  eyes  and  anxiety  to  their 
souls,  as  they  heard  the  words  of  Him  who 
was  all  in  all  to  them  ;  till  one,  more  brave  than 
the  rest,  broke  forth: 

107 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

"O  Lord,  for  the  Master  of  Love  art  Thou, 
send  us  not  away  from  Thy  side.  All  have  we 
left  to  serve  Thee,  our  Master.  Husbands  have 
we,  and  fathers  and  brothers,  but  to  Thee 
alone  we  belong.  They  are  but  the  keepers  of 
our  earthly  bodies :  Thou  art  the  custodian  of 
our  souls. 

"Our  souls  are  Thine,  for  Thou  art  the  Soul 
from  which  we  came ;  and  panting  we  come  to 
find  again  the  Home  wherein  to  rest. 

"Difficult  art  Thou  to  find,  O  Lord !  and  now 
we  have  found  Thee,  Oh  thrust  us  not  from 
Thy  "Lotus  Feet,  we  who  find  our  joy  and  hap- 
piness in  Thee! 

"Thy  flute  hath  drawn  us  from  our  homes ! 
Oh,  suffer  us  to  remain  with  Thee  and  know 
Thee  as  Thou  art !  Unable  are  we  to  live  with- 
out Thy  love,  O  Lord !  and  our  duties  of  home 
cannot  engage  us  since  our  minds  are  ever  con- 
templating Thee. 

"If  Thou  sendest  us  away,  we  shall  die.  Be 
Thou  kind  to  us,  Thy  servants,  and  grant  us 
to  serve  Thee  with  our  Love." 

Then  singing  into  their  midst  He  came,  He 
the  Lord  of  the  Highest,  the  Lord  of  Love  and 

108 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Lord  of  the  Lowest  and  Lord  of  Mercy !  And 
with  mighty  Love  swayed  He  all  alike.  And 
each  self  was  forgotten  and  Love  alone  was. 

Now  singing  in  chorus,  now  dancing,  now 
skipping,  the  Lord  and  his  maidens  in  those 
forest  groves  roamed,  till  the  river  was 
reached. 

Then,  from  over-much  pleasure,  proud  each 
maid  became,  and  her  simple  joy  to  vanity  was 
turned  because  thus  she  was  favored  by 
Krishna,  the  youth  Krishna,  the  Heavenly 
One,  Krishna,  the  Glorious  of  all  glorious 
ones! 

He,  noting  this,  to  punish  the  sin  of  vanity, 
in  swiftness  from  them  vanished ;  and  with  his 
going  the  sin  was  gone. 

Maddened  by  love,  the  maids  pleaded  to  the 
skies  and  the  trees  and  the  flowers  for  Him, 
who  was  their  life.  But  still  He  came  not. 

So  absorbed  in  Him  they  became,  them- 
selves they  forgot,  and  even  as  Krishna  they 
thought  they  were.  And  imitating  His  acts 
they  cried  to  one  another :  "Lo,  I  am  Krishna ! 
See,  I  hold  the  mountains  on  high!  Lo, 

109 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Putana  I  slay  and  baffle  the  rage  of  Indra 
with  my  power !"  And  still  came  He  not. 

Then  they  sang  His  praises,  then  with 
breaking  hearts  they  wailed  and  prayed  for 
Him  to  return  to  their  midst.  At  this  He 
came,  for  ever  is  the  Lord  most  kind  to  the 
lowly  and  sorrowing. 

And  He  soothed  their  grief  and  brought 
light  to  their  hearts;  and  forming  a  circle 
about  Him,  in  ecstasy  they  danced.  And  now 
He,  that  was  the  King  of  the  upper  world  and 
of  all  the  earth,  of  the  plants  and  oceans  and 
clustering  stars,  He,  the  Lord  of  all  might  and 
Yoga  power,  Himself  divided  into  many 
Krishnas;  and  each  Gopi  thought  she,  herself, 
danced  alone  with  the  Glorious  One  that  as 
Krishna  was  known. 

And  the  dance  began  lightly,  then  madder 
became ;  and  He  who  had  come  on  earth  to 
teach  man  Love,  manifested  Himself  in  every 
maid  that  lightly  and  rarely  stepped  at  His 
side,  as  they  danced  in  that  grove  on  that  won- 
drous night. 

And  the  lotus  blossoms  wept  tears  of  nectar 
on  seeing  the  dance,  and  birds  and  bees  from 

110 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

unknown  trees  and  flowers  came  forth  and 
whirled  round  and  round  the  heads  of  the 
dancing  ones. 

And  the  heavens  showered  blossoms  rare, 
and  the  gods  who  had  stolen  from  their  abode 
to  watch  the  Feast  of  Love  that  Krishna  gave 
to  the  lovely  milkmaids,  lo,  senseless  became 
at  the  first  sight  of  that  revel  of  Bliss ! 

And  night  throbbed  and  panted  and  forgot 
to  draw  its  curtain  to  let  day  in,  but  lengthened 
into  aeons. 

The  veil  from  every  Gopi's  eye  was  drawn, 
and  they  gazed  into  the  ocean  of  active  spirit- 
uality and  spiritual  became.  And  all  sin  that 
were  theirs  no  more  was  there. 

And  in  that  mighty  dance  a  flood  of  spirit- 
uality went  forth  that  took  from  the  heart  of 
men  and  the  bosom  of  earth  the  sins  with 
which  they  were  burdened  withal.  And  men's 
hearts  were  won  by  the  force  of  that  Love  and 
were  led  to  the  door  of  that  sacred  abode, 
where  only  the  loving  may  go. 

And  the  Gopis,  who  by  force  were  detained 
and  could  not  come  to  the  dance  with  Krishna, 
lo,  in  meditation  sat,  and  in  deep  pain  concen- 

m 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

trated  on  Him,  and  in  that  dance  they  were  at 
His  side  and  felt  His  love-embrace,  and  all 
their  sins  were  as  naught. 

For  to  touch  Krishna,  with  the  mind  alone, 
was  to  gain  spirituality  and  stand  pure  in  His 
eyes. 

So  in  those  hours  of  intensest  happiness  the 
world  gained  what  for  births  it  had  striven  to 
gain.  And  active  love  was  ripe  among  mor- 
tals, and  that  love  had  wiped  all  sin  away. 

And  when  the  last  ray  of  the  moon  was  seen, 
into  the  waters  of  the  laughing  river  they 
plunged;  and  ere  the  sun  with  ardent  eye  did 
awaken  the  sleeping  Brindaban,  each  maiden 
singing  homeward  went,  transformed  into  a 
being  of  unalloyed  love. 


112 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

IN  the  forest  grove  of  moonlight,  where  the 
river  sweetly  hummed,  where  the  nightbird's 
plaintive  chant  broke  in  ecstasy  the  silence, 
where  the  drooping  flowers  opened  wide  their 
sleep-kissed  eyelids  to  the  night  and  beheld  the 
wondrous  vision  of  the  dancing  maids  and 
Krishna, 

In  that  hour  when  every  maiden  felt  her 
heart  grow  big  to  bursting  for  the  love  that 
in  her  swelled  up  in  that  hour,  when  every 
maiden  saw  beside  her  Glorious  Krishna,  with 
His  brow  made  fair  with  flowers  and  His  loins 
wreathed  with  lotus,  when  the  heart  of  each 
sweet  maiden  foolish  grew,  because  of  pride, 
as  she  saw  the  one  All  Beauteous,  lightly 
treading  at  her  side  to  the  music  of  the  dance, 

One  there  was  of  all  those  Gopis,  she  the 
chiefest  of  them  all,  one  who  knew  naught  else 
but  Him ;  every  thought  of  self  had  vanished, 
every  thought  of  aught  but  Him. 

113 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

At  His  side  she  lightly  stepped  nor  felt  the 
grass  'neath  her  feet,  nor  knew  the  strains  of 
rapturous  music  that  fell  like  wine  upon  each 
heart ;  all  she  knew  was  Love  was  there, 
naught  but  this  remembered  she. 

To  the  winds  that  came  from  hillsides,  to 
the  shadows  that  the  trees  cast,  did  she  whis- 
per over  and  over  that  confession  of  her  love, 
till  over-weighed  by  the  sweet  burden,  did  the 
winds,  in  languorous  love,  chant  and  sigh, 
then  die  in  silence. 

And  the  shadows  of  the  trees  trembled  at 
the  depth  of  love  that  the  maid  did  whisper  to 
them  as  He  passed  them  in  the  dance. 

Radha  was  she,  youthful,  lovely,  she,  His 
playmate  of  the  forest,  she,  with  love-look  in 
her  face,  she,  the  Queen  of  Love  among  them, 
giving  all  and  asking  naught. 

By  the  mighty  will  of  Him  she  had  come  on 
earth  to  dwell,  she,  who  ever  reigned  with  Him 
in  Glory,  she  now  walked  with  Him  on  earth. 

She,  the  fairest  of  these  maidens,  she  the 
rarest  of  them  all,  knowing  Love  in  its  in- 
tensity, living  all  its  bliss. 

And  when  He,  the  Lord  of  Love,  vanished 

114 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

from  the  dancing  Gopis,  she,  sweet  Radha, 
with  Him  vanished. 

And  they  wandered  in  the  deep  groves,  these, 
the  Twain,  Who  in  Glory  dwelt,  she  the  lov- 
ing, He  the  Lover,  both  the  Blissful,  both  the 
Purest. 

He  the  dew-kissed  flowers  gathered,  twin- 
ing them  about  the  maiden.  But  the  flowers 
in  their  beauty  were  not  half  as  fair  as  she; 
and  sweet  Radha,  pearl  of  maidens,  gazed  with 
love-light  in  her  eyes,  knowing  naught  was 
half  so  lovely  as  the  hands  that  placed  them 
there. 

Thus  they  roamed  in  shadowy  moonlight, 
rested  here  in  softened  shadows,  chanting  love- 
songs  to  each  other,  knowing  naught  but  pure 
delight,  till  a-wearied  with  her  roaming, 
Radha  begged  to  cool  her  feet  in  the  smiling 
waves  of  Jumna,  that  she  spied  there  in  the 
moonlight. 

Krishna,  greatest  of  all  lovers,  lightly 
stooped  to  lift  the  maiden,  and  in  loving  arms 
to  bear  her  where  the  smiling  waters  rippled. 

But  within  the  breast  of  Radha,  at  that  act, 

115 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

pride  sprang  to  being,  and  within  that  home 
of  Love  vanity  crept  and  nestled  there. 

For  a  moment  Krishna  held  her,  then  with 
lightning  swiftness  from  her  side  He  van- 
ished. 

But  in  that  twinkle  of  a  moment  Radha 
knew  what  her  sin  was  and,  aware  of  her 
enemy,  the  selfless  love,  which  was  her  Self, 
her  deity  supreme,  arose  and  quenched  all 
thirst  of  vanity. 

Quickly  gliding  through  the  forest,  she 
again  did  join  the  Gopis,  spying  in  the  further 
distance  Krishna  soothing  one  and  all.  To 
His  side  she  lightly  stepped,  she,  the  radiant, 
she,  His  Heaven-Mate,  purged  from  sin  and 
lightly  clothed  with  the  love  that  knew  but 
Him. 


116 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WHILE  the  land  of  Brindaban  was  rich  in  the 
love  which  Krishna  flooded  it  withal,  the  heart 
of  Kangsa,  the  brother  of  Devaki,  was  filled 
with  fear  for  his  life ;  for  it  was  known  to  his 
quaking  heart  that  the  eighth  child  of  Devaki 
still  walked  the  earth,  and  also  he  knew  that 
writ  it  was  that  the  hand  of  that  child  would 
lay  him  low. 

Far  and  wide  he  sought  the  child,  the  boy, 
whom  he  felt  was  the  God  who  had  come  to 
bring  to  the  virtuous  and  lowly  man  peace, 
and  sweep  from  the  land  the  oppressor  and 
tyrant. 

The  marvelous  deeds  of  Sree  Krishna,  his 
beauty  and  strength,  the  might  of  his  love, 
had  been  heralded  far  and  wide,  and  all  the 
then  known  world  was  turned  towards  the 
forest  land  of  Brindaban  with  expectant  eye 
and  thirsting  heart.  For  ever  the  heart  of 
117 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

man  doth  pant  for  and  turn  to  the  place  where 
love  doth  dwell. 

When  tales  of  Krishna's  wonderful  life  and 
glorious  deeds  came  to  the  ears  of  Kangsa,  he 
felt  that  the  boy  whom  Yasoda  and  Nanda 
reared  as  their  own,  in  sweet  Brindaban,  was 
the  child  that  he  sought  to  kill  when  it  came 
from  the  womb  of  Devaki,  and  when  by  the 
hand  of  fate  itself  he  had  been  baffled. 

And  the  dull,  hungry  flame  of  hatred  and 
anger  rose  like  fire  in  this  bad  man's  heart, 
and  an  atmosphere  as  of  hell  about  him  rose, 
and  all  his  peace  slipped  to  the  dust,  and  his 
secret  fear  that  like  a  coiled  serpent  had  lain 
in  silence  now  uncurled  its  length  and  lifted 
its  head  and  darted  here  and  there  to  strike  the 
prey  that  aroused  it  from  its  slumber. 

And  long  he  sat  and  meditated  evil  against 
the  youth  that  he  could  not  slay  in  spite  of  his 
kingship.  For  the  Name  of  Krishna  was  a 
balm  to  the  hearts  of  all  men  who  had  ever 
heard  it  spoken,  and  though  king  he  was  and 
ruler  over  many,  he  knew  that  the  strength  of 
the  fame  of  Krishna,  the  boy  bred  in  Brinda- 
ban, more  potency  possessed  than  the  name  of 

118 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Kangsa,  the  king.    For  he  was  ruler  over  the 
bodies  of  men  only. 

His  name  dwelt  on  the  tongues  of  men  who 
prattled  with  words  alone,  and  those  words 
embodied  not  the  thought  from  which  they 
sprang — words  that  praised  where  praises 
were  not  due,  and  applauded  where  it  was  not 
deserved. 

Men  who  dared  not  note  the  indignity  of  his 
motives  and  their  results,  nor  discriminate  be- 
tween the  righteousness  of  his  action  and  his 
blood-dyed  deeds,  vexed  his  ears  with  fawning 
acclamations  to-day  because  of  his  power,  yet 
to-morrow  blamed  and  hissed  him  out  of  sight. 
But  Krishna  was  ruler  over  all  hearts  by  the 
might  of  his  wondrous   love.     He   was   the 
Divine  Incarnation,  the  Inner  Call,  the  satis- 
fied softness  that  all  felt,  compelling  all,  yet 
demanding   naught.      Uncovered,    frank,    He 
stood  forth  inviting  all  to  look  on  Him  to  Know 
and  to  love  and  be  saved, — too  deep  for  the  hu- 
man understanding  to  measure,  too  large  for 
human  heart  to  embrace,  yet  acquainting  each 
man  with  Himself. 

This  love  still  untaught,  still  gazing  on  Him 

119 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

who  was  all  encased  in  love,  all  made  of  love, 
all  teeming  with  love,  they  knew  themselves  of 
His  creation,  and  Him  their  Sovereign  Lord. 

And  Kangsa  knew  that  by  knowing  Him  the 
world  would  boldly  recoil  from  the  sickening 
deeds  of  his  cruelty,  the  foul  plots  of  his  life 
would  be  laid  bare  to  all,  and  the  world  in  re- 
bellion would  rise.  And  he  knew,  too,  that  he 
in  his  worldly  powers  as  a  weakling  would  be, 
by  the  side  of  the  cow-herd  Krishna. 

So  among  his  councillors  an  edict  went  forth 
that  festivities  be  held  in  honor  of  the  Bow,  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  lunar  month,  and 
that  sacrifices  in  great  abundance  be  made. 

He  also  said  unto  them  that  preparations  be 
made,  and  pavillions  be  raised,  and  the  arena 
cleared,  and  the  amphitheatre  festooned  with 
flowers  and  banners;  and  proclamations  were 
issued  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  his  whole 
kingdom  be  invited  to  his  capital  and  that  the 
people  of  Braja  be  included  therein. 

And  last  he  sent  his  ambassador  in  great 
pomp  and  glory  to  call  to  his  palace  the  sev- 
enth son  of  Devaki,  Balaram,  and  the  eighth 
son,  Krishna,  to  witness  the  sports  and  partake 
120 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

in  the  wrestling  contests  and  show  to  the  king- 
dom their  dexterity  and  strength. 

Thus  spoke  Kangsa,  and  called  to  Akrura 
and  made  him  the  ambassador  that  was  to 
bring  Krishna  and  Rama  to  Mathura.  But 
this  also  he  ordered:  "When  here  they  are 
brought,  see  that  the  strongest  and  mightiest 
wrestlers  of  my  kingdom  be  brought  to  match 
them  and  fairly  or  foully  to  lay  them  low." 
And  he  added :  "If  here  death  fails  to  meet 
them  withal,  keep  the  infuriated  elephant  close 
to  the  gate,  so  that  he  in  his  madness  may 
tread  out  the  life  of  Krishna  at  my  command." 
These  were  his  orders,  and  Akrura,  his  am- 
bassador, bowing  to  him,  departed  to  Braja. 


121 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  sun  was  setting  in  Braja,  and  Krishna 
with  companions  was  homeward  leading  the 
cows  to  be  milked. 

The  hills  were  gold-tipped.  The  chirp  of  the 
birds  in  sleepy  echoes  fell  on  the  ear,  when 
far  in  the  distance  the  hoofs  of  stamping  steeds 
pounding  the  earth  caused  the  boys  to  turn. 
Coming  in  royal  splendor  towards  them  they 
beheld  a  chariot  with  blazing  banners  of  the 
colors  of  the  royal  house  of  Mathura. 

The  boys  stood  in  amazement  as  nearer  the 
chariot  came;  but  Krishna  smiled  with  His 
eye  full  of  wisdom,  and  aslant  He  looked  to- 
ward the  boys  and  the  cows  and  then  at 
Akrura,  th  ambassador,  who  came  in  the 
chariot. 

At  that  glance,  Akrura  quickly  descended 

and  fell  at  the  feet  of  Krishna  and  saluted  Him 

in  reverence  and  worship,  for  the  dart  of  love 

that  came  from  Krishna  revealed  to  the  heart 

12? 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

of  Akrura  that  Krishna  was  more  than  human 
and  not  less  than  divine. 

With  that  glance  his  soul  was  drawn  to  the 
soul  of  Him  who  stood  there  to  receive  him 
and  his  message.  And  he  knew  that  the  Au- 
thor of  Life  he  beheld  and  that  blessed  he  was 
beyond  all  measure  to  be  chosen  to  look  on 
that  wonderful  face. 

A  moment  he  lay  in  the  dust,  at  the  feet  of 
the  youth, — Akrura,  the  proud,  the  inmate  of 
palaces,  the  councilor  and  companion  of  the 
king  and  emperor. 

Then,  with  kindly  grace,  Krishna  raised  him 
and  embraced  him  and  led  him  forth  to  the 
house  of  Nanda,  and  with  His  own  hands 
brought  rich  drinks  and  choice  viands,  with 
the  countenance  that  had  on  it  the  glow  of 
the  sun,  and  the  beauty  that  surpassed  all  the 
beauty  ever  seen. 

And  having  partaken  of  the  meal  with  His 
father  and  brother  and  guest,  Krishna  ad- 
dressed him  thus :  "O  friend,  long  I  knew  of 
this  coming  of  thine  and  marvelled  at  its  delay. 
Yet  tell  them,  my  kinsman,  the  errand  of  the 
king  on  which  thou  wert  sent!" 

133 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

Then  Akrura  related  to  Nanda  and  the  fear- 
stricken  Yasoda  the  king's  message,  his  plans 
and  his  evil  design. 

A  smile  of  wisdom  flitted  over  the  face  of 
Krishna,  as  He  nestled  close  to  the  side  of 
His  mother  and  bade  her  forget  her  anxiety 
for  Him,  as  none  there  was  in  all  the  world 
that  could  harm  Him.  He  vowed  that  even 
the  most  dreaded  Kangsa  was  powerless  to 
bring  about  the  evil  he  planned. 

But  the  mother,  Yasoda,  she  who  had 
reared  and  nourished  the  Child  at  her  heart, 
she  who  had  caressed  His  lovely  baby  soft- 
ness and  with  fondness  saw  his  first  toddling 
steps,  she  could  not  be  comforted,  nor  would 
her  heart  cease  its  beating  of  pain  and  terror. 

And  Akrura  related  how  Kangsa  in  wrath 
had  thrown  Devaki  and  Vasudeva  into  prison, 
on  hearing  that  Krishna  was  the  eighth  son  of 
their  union.  And  Yasoda  wept  as  the  thought 
of  the  mother  who  had  lost  all  her  sons  at  the 
cost  of  Krishna,  and  yet  had  not  the  blessing 
of  suckling  Him. 

Yasoda,  most  blessed  of  all  women  art  thou, 
who  nursed  the  Lord  of  Love  as  thy  son !  And 
124 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

fitted  wert  thou  by  Him  to  bestow  on  His 
baby  life  thy  caresses  and  receive  the  love  that 
flowed  from  Him ! 

Worthy  wert  thou  to  croon  Him  to  sleep,  to 
bathe  the  sweet  beauty  of  Him  who,  though 
He  had  all  there  was,  yet  chose  to  be  soothed 
and  guided  and  directed  by  thee  in  His  baby- 
hood! 

And  when  to  boyhood's  estate  He  grew  and 
startled  all  the  world  by  the  wonder  of  His 
doing,  to  thee  He  came  as  a  little  child,  to  be 
loved  and  petted  and  soothed  of  His  weeping 
and  fretting! 

And  now  when  called  king  of  the  land, 
and  called  king  by  the  hearts  of  the  whole 
known  world  that  panted  to  look  upon  His 
wonderful  beauty  and  see  the  might  of  His 
strength,  even  now  close  to  thy  heart  He 
nestles,  and  twines  His  arms  about  thy  neck, 
and  gazes  with  love-light  into  thine  eyes  to 
comfort  thee,  and  feels  a  shadow  mantle  His 
heart  as  He  banishes  the  pain  from  thy  brow ! 

For  well  He  knows  that  no  more  to  thee  the 
forest  child  He  will  be;  for  the  world  now 
125 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

claims  Him  as  its  own,  and  in  His  bigger 
world  an  actor  He  must  be. 

Thus  heart  to  heart  they  sit,  the  mother  and 
the  foster-son,  He  who  was  Lord  of  all  the 
world,  and  she  who  reared  him  as  a  child. 


126 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

So  night  wore  away,  and  in  the  early  morn- 
ing- hours  Akrura  was  ready  to  start  on  the 
journey  with  Rama  and  Krishna. 

But  great  was  the  wail  and  heartrending  the 
lamentations  that  came  from  the  hearts  of  the 
Gopis. 

With  tear-filled  eyes  they  rushed  to  His 
home  and  pleaded  and  prayed  that  He  stay  in 
their  midst ;  for  to  them  life  seemed  impossible 
without  Him,  and  Brindaban  could  not  be 
blessed  when  He  ceased  to  walk  thereon.  And 
what  would  the  cattle  and  flowers  and  trees 
do  without  the  sound  of  His  love-touched 
flute? 

"Oh,  remain  with  us,  Krishna,  O  Lord  of 
our  hearts !  Oh,  keep  close  to  our  land,  Most 
Beautiful  One ! 

"Broken  are  our  hearts,  bowed  low  our 
spirit  at  the  thought  of  our  lives  without  Thy 
presence  to  cheer  us.  Dull  are  our  minds  and 

127 


leaden  our  hearts  by  the  pain  of  Thy  going. 

"Oh,  leave  us  not  in  this  ocean  of  sorrow, 
but  stay  where  we  ever  may  look  on  Thy 
face. 

"O  Thou  who  shapest  all  that  is,  who  hast 
knitted  our  hearts  to  Thyself !  how  canst  Thou 
tear  it  away  from  us  who  know  the  sweetness 
of  its  love  and  the  fruits  that  spring  there- 
from? 

"Once  having  known  Thy  smile,  O  Krishna ! 
how  can  we  bear  the  dawning  of  day  without 
the  light  of  Thy  smile,  in  which  the  concen- 
trated beauty  of  Thy  whole  creation  lies,  to 
fill  it  and  make  each  day  whole? 

"And  how  can  we  see  the  shadows  of  night 
thicken  and  darken,  and  know  that  no  more 
we  will  roam  in  forest  and  dance  in  the  moon- 
light with  Thee,  our  Beloved? 

"Oh!  depart  not  from  us,  Thou  in  whom 
we  are  buried,  Thou  whose  love  doth  envelop 
us  all,  Thou  whose  universe-embrace  around 
us  is  entwined !  Oh !  go  not  from  out  our 
midst,  we  implore  Thee!" 

Thus,  tearing  their  tresses  and  weeping,  the 
Gopis  clung  to  the  wheels  of  the  chariot  in 

128 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

which  Krishna  and  Rama  sat  ready  to  start 
on  their  journey  to  Mathura. 

Then  Krishna  arose,  and  looking-  deep  in  the 
eye  of  each,  he  waved  his  hand  in  farewell, 
and  left  the  smile  of  Bliss  with  them  that 
filled  each  soul  to  overflowing.  Then  forward 
the  restless  chargers  plunged,  the  dust  rising 
high  and  quite  covering  the  chariot. 

The  maids  stood  like  hewn  marble,  still  yet 
serene.  And  the  cattle  that  grazed  on  the 
hillside  turned  towards  the  road  where  the 
chariot  vanished,  in  their  eyes  a  look  of  yearn- 
ing love;  while  the  deer  on  the  brow  of  the 
hill,  with  arched  neck  and  wild,  shy  glance, 
heaved  a  quick,  short  sigh,  as  if  hurt. 

And  the  soft  breasts  of  the  singing,  birds 
quivered,  and  a  little  sad  song  burst  from  their 
throats ;  while  the  trees  and  the  flowers  hung 
limp  and  wilted,  as  if  the  glad  life  had  left 
their  hearts. 

A  groan  arose  from  the  wild  beasts  in  the 
forest,  as  if  in  the  hand  of  death  they  were 
trapped.  The  sun  vanished  from  the  skies, 
and  all  Nature  seemed  clothed  with  the  gar- 
ment of  sadness.  9 

129 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

Then  forth  the  sun  burst  in  glorious  splen- 
dor, as  the  joy  of  the  smile  of  the  Lord  of  Love 
awoke  in  potency  to  bless  all  living  things 
whereon  it  had  fallen. 

And  sweet  Brindaban  in  silence  lay,  for- 
ever blessed  and  forever  beloved,  for  the  Feet 
of  Him,  who  was  God,  had  walked  there  and 
made  holv  its  soil. 


130 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

AND  the  chariot,  bearing  Akrura,  Rama  and 
Krishna,  was  followed  close  by  the  carts  bear- 
ing Nanda  and  the  Gopas,  who  carried  gifts 
for  the  king  Kangsa,  to  whom  all  must  present 
the  best  of  their  store. 

On  reaching  the  banks  of  the  Jumna,  Krish- 
na and  Rama  in  sportiveness  descended  from 
the  chariot  and  dipped  in  the  sacred  waters  of 
the  river,  then  ascended  again  to  the  chariot. 

Whereat  Akrura,  the  ambassador,  had  a  dip 
in  the  water,  too,  reciting  the  sacred  texts 
in  the  meanwhile,  when,  lo,  in  the  waters 
where  he  stood  he  beheld  the  laughing  Krishna 
and  Rama,  sitting  in  the  lap  of  the  god  of 
water. 

Amazed  and  bewildered,  he  gazed  towards 
the  chariot  where  last  he  had  seen  the  brothers, 
and  there  they  sat  talking,  as  when  he  had 
left  them. 

Again  he  dipped  his  head  'neath  the  waves 

131 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

of  the  water  and  again  he  saw  Rama  and 
Krishna,  and  knew  that  his  senses  were  not 
deluded. 

Krishna,  though  seemingly  a  youth  with  all 
a  youth's  sportiveness  and  play,  yet  was  the 
Lord  Incarnate. 

And  near  the  cart,  Akrura  looked  in  the 
eyes  of  Krishna  where  the  wisdom  that  cre- 
ated the  universe  lay,  and  answered  the  ques- 
tioning gaze  thus :  "O  Lord !  None  is  there  as 
wonderful  as  Thou  art!  All  hast  Thou  cre- 
ated and  in  Thee  is  all  Creation.  All  have  I 
seen  that  there  is  to  see." 

And  the  chariot  proceeded  towards  Mathura. 


138 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

NOON  reigned  in  the  city  of  Mathura  when 
the  chariot,  bearing  the  two  sons  of  Vasudeva, 
entered  that  city. 

The  fame  of  the  deeds  and  the  beauty  of 
Rama  and  Krishna  was  known  in  all  that 
kingdom,  and  their  coming  to  partake  of  its 
celebrations  and  to  participate  in  the  sports  and 
wrestling  at  the  command  of  Kangsa,  the  king, 
had  been  heralded  all  over  the  land. 

And  the  populace  was  glad  and  knew  not 
why.  And  they  said  in  their  hearts,  "Krishna 
the  Youth,  the  wonderful  Youth  of  Brandaban, 
will  grace  our  land  by  His  coming." 

So  the  streets  were  crowded  to  welcome 
Him  there,  and  the  tops  of  the  houses  were 
flowered  with  the  bright  faces  of  women  who 
gazed  from  there  to  catch  the  first  glance 
of  Him  whom  rumor  had  crowned  the  Most 
Glorious  Youth  of  the  then  known  world. 

O  Beauty,  how  potent  art  thou!     O  con- 

133 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

queror  of  all,  that  winneth  the  heart  of  the 
lowliest  child  and  enslaveth  the  heart  of  the 
proud  queen  of  the  world;  tHat  slaketh  the 
thirst  of  the  parched  soul  and  tutoreth  the 
dullest  mind  never  quickened  by  thought! 

So,  'mid  blare  of  trumpets  and  with  banners 
unfurled,  the  Lord  of  Love  entered  Mathura. 

And  above  the  roar  of  the  celebrations  and 
preparations  rose  the  murmurs  and  shouts  of 
greetings,  from  the  sea  of  upturned  faces  of 
men  and  from  the  canopy  of  sweet,  down- 
cast eyes  of  women,  that  thronged  to  see  His 
coming. 

And  millions  of  tongues  repeated  His  Name 
and  sang  His  praises,  and  millions  of  souls 
were  flooded  with  love,  because  they  had 
looked  on  His  face  and  said  His  Name,  which 
was  as  potent  as  His  Love.  For  His  Name 
contained  Himself,  and  those  who  uttered  His 
Name  had  Him  in  their  hearts,  and  lo,  the 
world  to  them  was  complete! 

Majestic  and  vast,  He  walked  'mid  the 
worshipping  people,  who  saw  but  a  youth  of 
transcendent  beauty,  but  felt  the  Unfathomable 
134 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

mystery,  the  Unknowable  Grandeur,  worthy 
to  receive  their  deepest  obeisance. 

Through  the  streets  of  Mathura  He  went, 
bringing  light  to  all  whereon  His  smile  fell. 

And  Kangsa,  the  tyrant,  grew  cold  and  gray, 
for  he  knew  his  doom  was  drawing  nigh.  And 
his  sleep  was  disturbed  by  evil  dreams,  for  he 
knew  already  the  populace  was  welcoming 
Him  whom  none  could  look  upon  but  to  love. 


135 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  next  day  Krishna  and  Rama  went  forth 
to  view  the  capital  of  Mathura  in  all  its  holi- 
day splendor. 

They  found  the  gates  of  the  palace  made 
of  pure  gold  and  studded  with  jewels  and 
crystal.  The  broad  street  of  the  city  and 
the  pretty  parks  all  luxuriant  were  with  rare 
flowers  and  wondrous  foliage.  The  splendid 
houses  all  seemed  clothed  and  beautified  for 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Bow,  the  symbol  of 
the  warrior's  might,  that  were  to  take  place 
that  day. 

It  chanced  that  a  washerman  passed  their 
way,  balancing  upon  his  head  the  clothes  and 
making  way  towards  the  palace  with  them.  In 
a  spirit  of  mischief,  Krishna  said :  "Give  us 
the  clothes  that  you  carry  to  Kangsa,  good  fel- 
low, for  in  need  of  them  are  we.  Give  them, 
and  more  I  will  give  unto  thee." 

But   the   washerman   in   insolence    replied: 

136 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

"Upstarts,  who  are  ye  to  dare  to  aspire  to 
wear  the  clothes  that  belong  to  Kangsa  the 
Great?  Never  have  ye  seen  such  clothes,  and 
unfit  to  even  touch  them  are  ye.  Be  off  and 
back  to  the  country  from  whence  ye  came, 
or  I  will  call  the  guards,  who  by  my  word  will 
throw  you  in  chains." 

Krishna,  with  a  smile  and  a  wave  of  his  bare 
hand,  severed  the  head  from  the  trunk  of  the 
washerman  and  proceeded  to  take  the  clothes. 

And  a  weaver,  who  was  passing  their  way, 
helped  them  put  on  the  garments;  while  a 
florist,  who  near  by  was  weaving  garlands  for 
Kangsa,  came  to  Rama  and  Krishna  and  be- 
decked them  with  garlands  and  flowers. 

And  thus  clad  for  the  festivities,  onward 
they  went ;  but  first  the  weaver  and  the  florist 
were  rewarded  with  great  spiritual  powers  by 
Krishna,  the  giver  of  all  good  things  to  those 
who  give  unto  Him  their  love. 

As  they  proceeded  on  their  way,  a  woman 
of  great  deformity  came  near.  A  parcel  she 
held  in  her  hands,  which  she  guarded  care- 
fully. As  close  she  came  to  Krishna,  she 
lifted  her  head  and  gazed  on  His  face. 

137 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

For  a  moment  she  stood,  a  smile  transform- 
ing her  face.  Then  the  bowl  of  precious  san- 
dal-wood ointment,  which  to  the  King  Kangsa 
she  carried,  to  Krishna  she  reached  and  said 
unto  Him :  "O  Youth,  more  beautiful  art 
Thou  than  aught  that  mine  eye  has  ever  rested 
upon.  To  those  who  are  sweet  should  sweet- 
ness be  given.  I  am  a  servant  of  King  Kangsa. 
This  fragrant  unguent  for  him  I  make,  but 
more  fitted  by  far  is  its  richness  for  Thee. 
Oh,  allow  me  to  lay  it  at  Thy  feet!" 

Krishna  looked  at  her  deformity,  then  at  her 
love-filled  eyes,  and  putting  His  feet  on  the 
tips  of  her  toes  and  His  two  fingers  under  her 
chin,  He  wrenched  her  form  upward ;  and 
she,  who  was  known  as  the  Tribakra  (she  of 
three  bends)  was  a  hunchback  no  more,  but  tall 
and  straight  was  she;  and  her  face  never  lost 
the  beauty  it  bore  when  it  looked  on  the  face 
of  Krishna  as  she  offered  to  anoint  Him  with 
zeal  and  love. 

And  from  that  day  forth  she  was  known 
as  the  most  surpassingly  beautiful  woman  in 
all  that  land. 

Thus  love  for  Krishna  creates  a  charm  that 

138 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

grows  into  beauty  and  nevermore  fades. 

Thus  all  day  long  He  wandered  about,  heal- 
ing the  sinful,  the  sick  and  the  dying  by  the 
very  breath  of  His  passing. 

And  to  sorrowing  fathers  and  mothers  that 
day  long  lost  sons  were  restored,  and  even 
the  dead  were  brought  to  life  and  were  seen 
with  the  eye  and  felt  with  the  heart  and  en- 
circled with  the  arms  of  those  whose  hearts 
were  empty  for  them. 

And  thus  the  Lord  with  benign  smile 
brought  to  all  the  gifts  of  life  and  love,  and 
none  were  there  in  all  that  land  who  felt 
not  the  power  thereof. 


139 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

WHEN  the  hour  for  the  festivities  of  the 
Bow  began,  spectators  innumerable  filled  the 
galleries  and  platforms  of  the  amphitheatre. 
By  every  tongue  the  praise  of  Krishna's  beauty 
was  sung,  and  all  awaited  with  eager  desire 
the  arrival  of  the  brothers  Rama  and  Krishna. 

In  the  centre  of  the  arena  a  platform  was 
raised,  where  Kangsa,  the  king,  and  his  min- 
isters were  enthroned.  His  eyes  were  lurid 
with  hate  and  his  heart  quaking  with  fear, 
for  his  dreams  had  been  full  of  evil  omens, 
and  he  knew  that  he  of  all  that  multitude  was 
out  of  tune  with  Nature. 

For  Krishna,  the  Youth,  had  scattered  flow- 
ers of  love  in  that  city  for  all  who  chose  to 
partake  of  them,  and  all  hearts  had  gathered 
them  eagerly.  Only  he  alone  had  turned  from 
the  good  and  abided  by  his  hate;  and  he  knew, 
in  spite  of  the  wrestlers  and  the  wild  elephant, 

140 


THE  LORD   OF  LOVE. 

and  even  the  guard  that  stood  ready  to  slay 
at  his  command,  that  the  Youth  would  con- 
quer, as  He  ever  had,  and  that  he  would  die 
by  His  hands  sooner  or  later. 

For  had  it  not  been  writ  thus?  And  again 
had  not  every  attempt  of  his  to  put  out  the  life 
of  the  eighth  child  of  Devaki  been  baffled  in 
marvelous  ways?  And  still  the  Youth  lived 
and  smiled.  Surely  he  was  Hari,  the  Invin- 
cible! 

His  hate  betrayed  him  and  was  hourly  lead- 
ing him  into  a  trap.  It  charmed  him  like  a 
subtle  snake,  while  it  frightened  him  like  a 
huge  wild  beast;  yet  gladly  would  he  have 
opened  the  valve  that  held  his  wrath  and 
flooded  all  with  its  poison,  if  by  so  doing  he 
might  have  annihilated  that  glorious  Youth 
who  stood  ever  before  him  by  night  and  day 
and  smote  his  cruel  heart  as  with  a  glowing 
rod. 

So  all  his  stolid  self-possession  was  gone  as 
he  looked  on,  when  Krishna,  the  Beautiful, 
soft  as  a  delicate  woman,  yet  invincible  as 
unconquered  strength,  walked  'mid  the  hys- 

141 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

terically  joyous  shouts  of  the  people  to  where 
the  giant  Bow  was  guarded  by  warriors  bold. 

A  moment,  and  then  He  seized  the  Bow  and 
held  it  aloft  with  one  hand,  the  Bow  that 
twelve  men  of  mighty  strength  alone  could 
handle,  and  with  a  twist  of  His  wrist  it  fell 
at  their  feet,  broken  in  twain. 

The  guards  rushed  forward,  as  if  to  strike 
Him  low ;  but  when  near  Him,  they  stopped 
and  looked  at  His  glory;  they  crouched  low 
on  their  haunches  and  fell  on  their  faces,  un- 
able to  move,  for  the  life  had  gone  out  of 
their  bodies  by  the  first  wave  of  His  hand. 

But  blessed  were  they ;  for  none  died  by  the 
hand  of  Krishna,  but  by  Him  was  made  pure 
and  straightway  to  the  realms  of  Bliss  they 
were  sent. 

For  where  the  hand  of  Krishna  rested, 
whether  to  bring  life  or  take  life  away,  that 
man  forever  holy  was  made  by  the  touch. 

So  also  with  Kangsa  it  was.  Dwelling  con- 
stantly on  Krishna,  even  though  in  hate,  he 
came  closer  to  Love  than  he  himself  knew. 

So  the  celebration  of  the  Bow  ended  in 
triumph  for  Krishna  and  Rama,  And  though 

143 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Kangsa  sent  a  body  of  well-armed  soldiers  to 
apprehend  them,  lo!  the  conquerors  victorious 
walked  from  the  arena,  followed  by  the  cheers 
of  the  worshipping  populace,  who  saw  that  in 
strength  they  were  invincible,  even  as  in  beauty 
they  were  incomparable.  And  they  looked  for- 
ward eagerly  to  the  morrow,  when  the  broth- 
ers were  to  participate  in  wrestlings  and  sports. 
But  Rama  and  Krishna  returned  to  spend 
the  night  with  the  Gopas;  while  the  people 
of  Mathura  neither  ate  nor  slept,  but  sang  of 
their  beauty  and  might. 


143  . 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

BUT  Kangsa  was  troubled  by  the  triumph  of 
the  brothers,  and  next  morning  called  the 
wrestlers  who  were  to  match  the  two  brothers, 
and  again  put  to  them  the  weight  of  the  con- 
test, and  placed  armed  men  at  the  gates  of 
the  arena.  He  then  proceeded  with  many 
forebodings  to  the  amphitheatre,  where  the 
sports  were  to  take  place.  He  took  his  seat 
amid  the  beating  of  drums,  the  blaring  of 
trumpets  and  the  waving  of  banners. 

Already  many  spectators  had  assembled, 
among  them  many  crowned  chiefs,  Brahmans 
and  Ks'hatriyas,  all  with  expectancy  over- 
whelming:, as  to  the  outcome  of  the  wrestling. 

Forward  the  wrestlers  came  with  a  rush 
and  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  ring,  wrestlers 
whose  fame  was  known  throughout  all  the  land 
for  their  brute  strength  and  skill. 

Few  there  were  who  dared  to  meet  these 
men,  and  as  Krishna  and  Rama  came  for- 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

Ward  to  see  the  meeting  of  the  first  pair,  they 
found  a  huge  elephant  posted  there  at  the 
entrance. 

Krishna,  seeing  this,  asked  the  driver  to 
make  way  with  the  beast  for  Him.  At  this 
the  rider  urged  the  infuriated  beast  towards 
Him. 

With  a  smile,  Krishna  grasped  with  his 
soft  little  hand  the  nose  of  the  furious  beast, 
who,  with  a  bellow,  fell  to  the  ground  life- 
less, dragging  the  driver  down  with  him. 

Krishna  then  tore  the  tusks  from  the  brute's 
head;  and  Rama  and  Krishna  entered  the 
wrestling  grounds  with  the  tusks  in  their 
hands  and  blood-stained  from  the  slaying  of 
the  beast. 

Kangsa's  heart  sank  at  the  sight,  and  even 
the  wrestlers  recoiled  in  terror  at  the  blood- 
stained figures  who  gazed  on  them  with  super- 
natural power  in  their  youthful  eyes. 

Yet  true  to  the  command  of  Kangsa,  Chanoor 
the  chief  of  the  wrestlers,  cried:  "Come,  ye 
youngsters,  good  wrestlers  are  ye !  The  good 
king  hath  invited  you  to  participate  in  the  con- 
test, so  come  and  wrestle  and  give  pleasure  to 

145 


SREE    KRISHNA, 

King  Kangsa,  he  who  is  the  greatest  of  all 
kings  and  men." 

With  a  smile  all-wise  Krishna  looked  at  the 
wrestlers,  then,  with  eye  aslant,  he  gazed  on 
Kangsa,  who  trembled  at  the  look;  and  an- 
swered Chanoor  thus:  "Though  subjects  of 
King  Kangsa,  yet  only  boys  of  the  forest  are 
we,  unlearned  in  the  art  of  wrestling.  There- 
fore, we  pray  you,  match  us  with  boys  of  our 
age  and  not  with  men  whose  muscles  are  iron 
and  whose  hearts  are  bold  as  a  lion's.  If  we 
are  to  meet  men  like  these,  unfair  is  the  game, 
and  unjust,  and  we  decline  the  arrangement." 

Then  Chanoor  became  insolent,  because  of 
the  confession  of  Krishna  which  he  thought 
was  made  in  weakness,  and  cried :  "O  thou 
who  hast  killed  the  furious  elephant  as  if  in 
sport,  thou  askest  to  be  matched  with  one  of 
thine  own  age!  With  me  thou  shalt  wrestle, 
me  the  most  powerful,  the  strongest  man  of 
the  age,  and  Rama  shall  match  with  Mush- 
tik;  and,  be  it  just  or  unjust,  fair  or  unfair, 
thee  I  will  fight  and  fight  to  kill." 

And  so  a  combat  began  between  the  man 
that  was  mortal  and  the  youth  that  was  God. 

146 


THE  LORD  OF  LOVE. 

The  man  a  giant  was  of  colossal  brute  force, 
of  stature  great,  with  muscles  all  knotted  and 
crooked  as  the  boughs  of  an  oak-tree  of  many 
years'  growth. 

And  the  Boy,  smooth  as  a  sweet  maiden, 
all  curved  with  grace,  smilingly  awaited  the 
onslaught. 

Forward  the  wrestler  came,  with  the  snort 
of  a  wild  bull,  to  meet  the  Boy,  who,  cairn  and 
serene,  smiled  in  his  eye.  f 

The  people  arose  and  sprang  from  their 
benches,  and  hissed,  and  threw  their  head- 
gear and  staffs  into  the  ring,  as  they  shouted : 
"Give  up,  the  fight  is  unfair !" 

"Oh,  shame!"  they  cried,  "coward  and 
beast !  put  a  stop  to  the  slaughter !"  on  seeing 
the  seemingly  unequal  fight. 

Several  times  Chanoor  struck  furious  blows 
at  the  fair,  slight  body  of  Krishna,  the  youth, 
but  provoked  naught  but  a  smile  from  Him; 
while  beads  of  blood  sprang  to  the  brow  and 
arms  of  Chanoor,  and  his  huge  legs  trem- 
bled and  broke  at  the  knee  as  he  tried  to  reach 
the  belt  of  Him,  who,  after  several  circles 
about  the  ring,  seized  Chanoor  by  the  arms, 

147 


SREE   KRISHNA, 

and,  lifting"  him  high  above  His  head,  to  the 
wonderment  of  the  crowd,  dashed  him  down 
to  the  ground,  as  a  playing  child  doth  throw 
the  pebbles.  And  the  wrestler  breathed  his 
last  with  a  yearning  look  of  love  in  his  eyes, 
as  they  rested  on  Him,  whom  a  moment  before 
he  beheld  with  hate. 

And  Rama,  too,  victorious  was. 

But  when  Krishna  stood  and  faced  the  mass 
of  people  there,  they  shouted  and  cheered  with 
mad  delight  and  jumped  on  the  railings  in 
panic  wild :  "He  is  more  than  human,  He 
is  God  come  down  to  earth !  It  is  He,  for 
whom  the  world  hath  waited!  He  will  free 
our  land  from  oppression !  Hari  is  He,  the  In- 
vincible! Oh,  mighty  art  Thou  and  possessest 
in  Thy  frame  the  forces  of  all  the  universe!" 

But  Kangsa,  the  King,  full  of  terror  and 
rage,  cried:  "Ho,  guards!  Seize  him  and 
take  him  to  the  outskirts  of  my  kingdom  and 
drive  him  into  banishment.  Imprison  Nanda 
and  Yasoda,  confiscate  all  their  lands  and  be- 
longings, and  take  from  the  Gopas  their 
wealth  and  goods  and  drive  them  from  Brinda- 
ban.  Kill  Devaki  and  Vasudeva,  who  are  now 

148 


THE  LORD  OP  LOVE. 

imprisoned  in  my  dungeon.  Kill  all  who  know 
and  love  this  youth,  'tis  my  command." 

A  moment  Krishna  gazed  on  Kangsa,  then 
with  a  bound  he  reached  the  platform  where 
Kangsa  stood  with  sword  unsheathed. 

"O  Kangsa.  I  am  the  eighth  son  of  Devaki 
whom  thou  so  long  hast  sought  to  slay.  It 
is  writ  that  thou  by  my  hand  must  die!  O 
King,  dost  thou  think  that  human  hand  can 
turn  aside  the  force  of  the  Law?" 

And  hurling  Kangsa  down  on  the  ground, 
He  leaped  over  the  prostrate  king,  whereat  his 
life  departed. 

But  his  glazed  eyes  were  fixed  on  Him 
whose  hand  had  blessed  even  him  by  its  touch 
and  burned  away  every  sin  from  his  soul. 

Then,  hastening  through  the  lines  of  guards, 
who  prostrated  low  at  His  approach,  He  went 
to  where  His  father  and  mother  were  impris- 
oned in  dungeons  dark  and  deep. 

Low  he  bent  to  their  feet,  murmuring  in 
accents  sweet : 

"O  parents  mine !  Oh,  much  have  ye  suf- 
fered for  my  sake  and  all  ye  shall  gain  through 
Me ;  for  in  Me  is  all  there  is  to  gain  and  out- 

149 


SREE   KRISHXA, 

side  of  Me  there  is  naught.  From  thy  womb. 
O  Devaki,  I  was  born,  yet  out  of  Me  thou  didst 
come.  I  prostrate  before  thee." 

Then  saluting  them  both,  'mid  deafening 
cheers,  he  led  them  forth  to  the  palace. 

And  the  father  of  Kangsa,  dethroned  by  his 
son,  received  and  welcomed  them  there. 

And  wild  was  the  joy  of  the  populace  on 
that  day  that  Krishna  lifted  the  yoke  of  bond- 
age from  them,  and  they  blessed  the  hour  that 
the  sun  had  ushered  in  that  day,  which  brought 
a  new  ruler  in  their  land. 

And  'already  Mathura  felt  the  joy  that  was 
but  a  forerunner  of  a  perfect  reign.  For 
Krishna  it  was  who  placed  on  the  throne  the 
one  who  would  rule  the  land  in  goodness  and 
plenty. 


150 


Messages    and   Revelations 

From 

Sree   Krishna 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 
FROM  SREE  KRISHNA 

Within  my  belly  you  do  dwell,  yet  in  every 
heart  I  sit.  Know  you  this,  O  my  own,  and 
you  shall  forget  and  fetter  yourselves  to  Me. 
The  wings  of  your  Self  now  are  close  clapped 
like  a  dripping  feather  all  wet  with  tears  of 
pain  and  folded  about  your  body,  keeping  it 
rolled  like  a  ball,  unable  to  stand  upon  the 
feet  of  might  and  strength  which  I  have  en- 
dowed you  with.  These  wings,  my  own,  I 
will  spread  for  you,  until  the  grand,  noble 
forehead  of  your  Self  shall  rise  above  the 
realm  where  Time  and  Space  do  reign. 

*     * 

Deep  have  the  waters  of  seeming  failures 
dashed  about  thy  feet  and  threatened  to  drag 
you  into  the  perturbed  sea  of  despair,  but 
still  thy  head  has  been  close  to  the  clouds  and 
thou  hast  caught  the  smile  of  my  radiance  and 
heard  the  voice  of  my  kindness.  Dost  thou 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

think  that  I  who  have  numbered  the  grains  of 
sand  and  have  weighed  the  drops  of  water 
in  all  the  oceans,  seas,  lakes  and  rivers, — that 
I  will  allow  one  who  is  a  spark  of  Myself  to 
be  devoured  by  the  wolf  of  famine  or  by  the 
dread  of  despair?  Look  up,  it  is  light,  look 
to  thy  right  and  a  hand  reaches  out  to  thee. 
And  I  have  placed  thee  where  those  who  know 
how  to  love  what  is  lovable  can  look  at  thee 
and  love. 

*  * 

The  soul  which  has  need  of  blessedness,  to 
that  soul  do  I  answer  at  its  call !  Let  it  feed 
the  heart  that  is  hungry  for  an  answer. 

*  * 

A  lamp  within  your  midst  I  place  and  those 
who  would  enjoy  the  radiance  which  the  lamp 
gives  out,  must  cast  their  eyes  to  where  the 
lamp  does  stand  and  stir  to  reach  unto  its 
light.  A  shading  tree  upon  the  sandy  hill  I 
place.  The  weary  traveller,  all  hot,  who 
of  its  cooling  shade  would  partake  must  come 
wkhin  the  circle  of  its  throwing  shade.  He, 
who  will  not  see  the  lamp  or  walk  to  where 

152 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  shadows  dark  and  cool  do  fall,  he  cannot 
enjoy  the  blessing  of  the  lamp  as  it  casts  its 
light  or  the  cooling  shades  of  the  slanting 
branches.  So  'tis  with  Love :  if  you  will  seek 
its  warmth  and  glow,  do  thou  seek  it.  Only 
those  who  seek  Me  do  I  in  return  meet. 

*  * 

Oh,  the  love  that  stoops  low  at  every  foot! 
Take  thou  that  love  in  thy  hands  and  burdens 
will  lighten.  Put  thou  My  Love  in  thy  heart 
and  thy  world  will  brighten.  Oh,  give  with 
love  to  all  who  come  within  the  radius  of  thy 
glory.  The  heritage  of  My  Love  much  more 
thou  wilt  know.  As  immeasurable  as  space  thy 
self  shall  become  and  heights  in  thy  heart  will 
appear,  and  splendours  more  splendid  than  all 
thou  hast  known,  and  heights  more  sublime 
than  the  whited  peaks  where  once  thou  hast 
stood  and  looked  into  the  calm  tranquility  of 
my  Everlasting  Eye. 

*  * 

The  man  who  seeketh  to  do  good,  oft  doth 
lose  his  aim  by  becoming  desirous  to  reach 
higher  places  through  that  same  good. 

153 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

A  man  who  hoards  his  gold,  oft  learns  to 
love  the  smile  of  his  golden  sweetheart  and 
develops  into  an  avaricious  creature. 

*  * 

The  maid  who  plaits  shining  tresses,  in  so 
doing  may  be  weaving  a  net  of  vanity  in  her 
soul.  This  by  ignorance  of  self  may  be 
brought  about  though  the  original  motive  was 
pure  and  good.  Hence  Ignorance  is  sin! 

*  * 

A  sharp  edged  sword  hung  at  the  side  will 
cut  the  baby's  hand  as  it  plays  with  its  sharp- 
ness. There  again  ignorance  is  punished  like 
sin. 

*  * 

Love  now  does  mould  you ;  love  does  en- 
fold you;  love  does  behold  you,  and  bind  you, 
my  children.  I  wear  on  my  brow  the  great 
pearl  of  Love  which  no  god  or  saint  or  man  or 
worm  or  beast  or  ant  can  resist.  Even  I  who 
am  All  Love  do  look  upon  the  beauty  of  my 
Love  and  love  and  love. 

Ye,  O  my  children,  that  jewel  shall  wear  on 

154 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

your  brow.  I  who  am  All  Love  ye  may  wear 
and  I  who  am  love-filled  ye  may  hold.  For 
love  must  ever  fly  to  love  and  love  must  ever 
draw  from  love,  and  love  must  ever  live  in 
love,  for  life  doth  spring  from  love.  And  I 

do  live  in  love. 

*  * 

Oh,  list!  Plant  not  thy  seed  in  fertile 
ground  and  wait  for  it  to  root  and  blossom 
and  fruit  for  thy  own  self  alone.  Rather  do 
thou  plant  thy  seed  for  the  heart  of  every 
heart  that  lives  within  My  Great  Heart.  He 
who  waters,  tends  and  sprouts  his  plant  not 
for  his  own  sweet  taste  alone  but  for  the  taste 
of  every  man,  he  of  that  sweetness  and  fresh- 
ness shall  taste  even  before  the  fruit  is  ripe. 
Know  you,  O  my  children,  the  life  which  I 
have  given  you  sprang  from  My  Love.  Oh, 
make  thy  life  a  song  sublime  and  not  a  groan. 

*  * 

Evil  availeth  not  when  you  my  laws  do  know. 
List !  fill  your  heart  with  love,  with  sunshine 
which  freely  I  scatter  to  you ;  and  I  will  bring 
there  soft  rains  and  the  seed  of  love  to  life 
I  will  stir;  and  that  which  to  your  senses  of 

155 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

infants  doth  reek  of  the  charnel-house,  a  fer- 
tilizer shall  become,  for  your  love  to  grow  and 
sprout,  even  as  the  creeping  vine  that  drops 
and  takes  root  wherever  it  falls. 

*  * 

I  am  the  swiftness  in  the  sailing  cloud,  the 
flame  struck  from  the  flint.  I  am  the  fire 
housed  in  every  star,  the  breath  I  am  of  every 
living  thing.  All  things  that  are,  do  love,  for 
I  am  all  that  lives — I,  who  am  life  and  love — 
I,  who  am  love  and  life,  and  naught  is  there 
besides.  The  hearing  ear  I  am,  the  seeing  eye, 
the  throbbing  heart,  I  waken  in  every  man  the 
love  that  reaches  out. 

*  * 

O  Daughter!  Rise  in  thy  dignity  and  sur- 
vey that  which  thou  art  master  of  and  look 
to  the  marble  halls  which  beckon  thee  even 
now.  Know  this,  that  love  and  wisdom  is  the 
mystery  of  all  things  and  that  Love  when  un- 
derstood is  twin  to  Dominion.  Do  thou  the 
work  that  lies  at  thy  hand !  Remember  each 
day  is  thy  fulfilled  world.  It  is  thy  Zion,  it 
is  thy  life  complete.  Such  jewels  as  have 

156 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

crowned  few  are  daily  being  laid  at  thy  feet ! 
Spurn  them  not  for  the  material  seeming  bless- 
ings which  invite  thee. 

*     * 

A  HOLY  MAN'S  PRAYER. 

There  was  a  holy  man  who  thought  never 
of  himself,  but  ever  of  those  among  whom  he 
lived  and  passed  his  days.  So  wondrous 
virtuous  and  holy  he  was,  that  ofttimes  the 
host  of  unseen  ones  who  loved  to  remain  near 
him  recognized  the  greatness  of  his  goodness 
and  spoke  among  themselves  'thus :  "Holy  is 
this  man  in  truth  and  strange  to  say  he  knows 
it  not.  Surely  few  are  like  him.  Let  us  who 
love  him  ask  him  how  he  would  be  served  by 
us,  how  we  may  bestow  upon  him  gifts  which 
to  the  blind  earthwalkers  are  called  the  su- 
pernatural or  miraculous." 

"So  be  it,"  in  unison  they  replied.  And  one 
among  the  spirit-host  who,  by  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  holiness  was  superior,  addressed  him 
thus :  O  holy  man,  we  who  look  upon  you 
hourly  and  love  you  much,  we  would  bestow 
upon  you  some  gift.  What  shall  it  be?  The 

157 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

miracle  of  making  all  who  look  upon  you — 
man,  woman  or  child. — love  you?  Or  would 
it  be  -the  miracle  of  relieving  all  whom  thou 
dost  meet  and  love  of  the  load  of  poverty 
which  thou  seest  and  which  makes  thee  sad 
at  the  look?  Or  shall  it  be  the  power  of  re- 
lieving the  sick  of  his  burden  of  disease  which 
draggeth  him  to  an  early  grave?" 

The  holy  one  looked  at  the  gentle  and  lovely 
spirit  with  eyes  in  which  dwelt  -the  very  beauty 
of  love  and  holiness  and  said :  "Nay,  dear 
spirit,  not  for  me  are  these  miracles.  To  my 
Lord,  who  is  the  giver  of  all  joy  and  pain, 
doth  belong  the  great  power  of  removing  what 
he  giveth.  But  this  I  ask,  that  I  walk  in  hum- 
bleness and  in  my  heart  the  prayer  will  grow 
to  love  my  Lord  the  more.  That  love  I  may 
be  able  to  give  to  all  who  come  within  my 
reach.  This,  O  gentle  spirit,  is  all  I  ask.  De- 
part and  allow  me  to  but  see  my  Lord  in  hum- 
bleness and  pray  to  love  him.'' 

The  spirit  departed  and  to  the  unseen  host 
did  say:  "For  such  as  he  is  the  Love  of  the 
Lord!  Already  hath  he  acquired  what  we  in 
vain  seek — Love  for  the  Lord !" 

158 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  bringeth  love  and 
light  wherever  he  walketh.  Love  Love's  own 
creation  is,  it  is  its  own  reward.  No  human 
law  its.  force  can  sway.  No  human  force  'can 
stay  its  tide.  Love  is  the  source  of  living 
things  and  all  that  it  doth  love.  Naught  that 
thine  eyes  can  rest  upon  but  hath  its  root  in 
Love.  The  heart  that  love  denies  is  cold.  It 
sleepeth  and  it  stagnant  is ;  it  is  frozen  o'er  by 
snows  of  earth  and  sinneth  most  against  it- 
self. Love  giveth  of  itself  to  all,  nor  asketh 
it  return.  It  is  a  law  unto  itself,  a  law  to  man 
and  beast  and  plant.  The  snake  doth  glide 
Love's  warmth  to  know  the  bird  the  air  doth 
cleave  its  force  to  feel ;  the  flower  upward 
turns  its  wondering  gaze  the  kiss  of  Love  to 
meet.  The  beast  doth  pant  all  eagerly  the  eye 
of  Love  to  behold.  But  man  it  is  who  makes 
the  simple  theme  of  Love  a  huge  complexity. 
In  restlessness  he  struggles  for  that  which  he 
already  hath,  for  that  without  which  he  could 

not  exist. 

*     * 

O  My  jewels!  lean  on  the  altar  of  My  all- 
creating  Love  and  soon  your  heart  will  be  as 
159 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

a  laughing  child.  Quick  My  all-responsive 
touch  to  know,  a  bursting  fount  of  gladness 
and  generosity  you  will  be,  and  the  hot  desert 
of  your  heart,  which  dry  and  sandy  now  is,  a 
garden  of  lily  and  rose  will  become. 

*  * 

Love  was  My  natural  gift  to  one  and  all  of 
My  creation.  Who  this  doth  know  a  treasure 
hath  in  truth. 

*  * 

O  my  children!  ever  outward  looking,  turn 
within  your  blinded  eyes,  and  there  a  world  all 
big  with  joy  and  love  you  will  find,  a  world 
made  wise  by  My  wisdom,  a  world  of  the  Real. 
Then  you  will  know  what  Love  has  made  of 
you;  what  Love  doth  bless  you  wjth;  what 
Love  doth  will  that  vou  should  be. 


Poor  and  ignorant  is  the  man  who  seeketh 
for  that  which  he  hath  and  knoweth  it  not. 
Poor  and  ignorant  is  the  man  who  knoweth 
not  the  nobility  of  my  Love  that  surroundeth 

him,  with  which  I  crowned  him  withal. 
*     * 

O  my  children !  in  your  midst  My  well  be- 
160 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

loved  one  doth  walk.  Mark,  freely  all  his  love 
he  giveth,  gladly  of  My  Love  receiveth,  and  the 
measure  of  his  sweetness  doth  he  give  to  over- 
flowing unto  all  that  near  him  come.  Lo !  he 
knoweth  my  Love  is  flowing  into  him  that 
largely  giveth  of  the  Love  I  do  bestow.  Within 
your  midst  in  every  heart  I  am,  unknown,  till 
by  a  touch  of  pain  in  struggle  great  you  brush 
against  My  wide  white  wings.  Then  thrilled 
and  amazed  you  look  into  Mine  eyes  and  know 
that  I  am  and  ever  have  been  and  ever  must 
be. 


The  hand  of  My  Love  has  gone  from  My 
Abode  and  scattered  into  space,  giving  unto  all 
that  will  receive.  Unto  each  child  of  Mine 
blessings  I  have  given ;  ofttimes  in  their  blind- 
ness they  saw  it  not.  But  few  there  are  who 
raise  the  gifts  that  lie  in  great  profusion  at  their 
feet.  More  are  those  who  turn  their  eyes  in 
wilful  waywardness  from  them  and  with 
yearning  cry  do  wail  for  that  which  I  have 
crowned  them  withal.  Most  of  my  own  do 
amble  on,  defiantly  denying  that  such  gifts 
161 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

there  are,  denying  Me,  the  Giver  of  all  gifts 
denying  Me,  the  Author  of  their  being. 

*  * 

The  few  who  raise  My  gifts  and  make  them 
as  their  own  and  making  them  as  their  own 
thus,  do  give  them  forth  to  those  their  hunger- 
ing neighbors,  unto  them  do  I  scatter  more 
than  they  in  ease  can  carry,  for  he  who  giveth 
forth  receiveth  ever  largely  of  the  store  I  hold 
for  them.  He  who  hungers  to  feed  the  heart 
of  those  he  meets  along  his  way,  unto  him 
shall  be  given  the  wherewithal  to  satisfy  their 
hunger. 

*  * 

O  my  child !  what  mattereth  it  who  speaketh 
the  word  of  love,  of  truth,  of  courage  and  life 
unto  thy  heart?  Whether  thou  dost  catch  it 
from  the  song  of  birds,  from  the  lips  of  a  babe, 
from  the  glad  tone  in  a  maid  or  the  shout  in 
a  frolicsome  boy  ?  Whether  it  comes  from  the 
heart  of  him  who  hath  given  all  to  know  Me 
and  to  reflect  Me  in  thine  heart,  or  whether  it 
came  from  the  spirit  all  bright  as  he  hovered 
about  to  find  thee  a  way  when  thou  didst 

1G2 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

grope  in  the  wilderness  of  doubt  and  amaze 
of  worldly  turmoil  ?  Take  thou  the  truth  from 
wherever  it  comes,  for  truth  that  is  real  finds 
its  root  in  Me  and  no  matter  how  slender  and 
lean  the  twig  may  be,  it  is  the  shoot  that  has 
sprung  from  My  Root. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  whose  wisdom  is  as  silver 
is !  Glory  to  Gooroo !  who  by  his  love  and 
wisdom  illumineth  the  hearts  that  seek  after 
Me.  His  day  and  his  waking,  his  night  and  his 
slumber  I  with  My  Love  will  preserve. 

*  * 

O  my  children,  illumined  you  will  be,  yet 
you  seek  not  the  light  that  sits  in  your  midst! 
Its  radiance  I  would  throw  in  your  midst  and 
give  to  the  heart  that  is  darkened  with  clouds 
the  peace  that  it  seeketh,  the  joy  that  it  owneth 
— the  joy  that  is  warming  to  the  senses  and 
that  dances  like  live  streams  of  water  that  leap 
from  the  mountains  and  play  with  the  rivers. 

*  * 

Oh,  tarry  awhile   from  the  whirl  and  the 
strife  of  the  world  !  Ye  who  seek  My  light,  the 
163 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

sons  of  my  light  shall  be,  and  earth  shall  not 
soil  nor  rob  you  of  My  glory,  nor  will  your 
mind  be  darkened  and  dull.  For  I  will 
beautify  and  quicken  it  with  love  and  with  joy, 
for  the  light  of  the  mind  is  love.  The  light 
of  life  is  love.  Where  love  is,  contentment  and 
peace  are.  Where  contentment  is,  there  My 
smile  is  too.  Where  contentment  reigneth,  in 
satisfaction  I  dwell.  Where  contentment  is, 
there  the  fountain  of  peace  too  is  playing. 

*  * 

O  ye  who  find  perplexity  above  your  rear- 
ing head  and  underneath  your  lagging  feet,  at 
your  right  hand  and  your  left  hand !  An  enigma 
unto  yourselves  you  will  be  until  lowly  and 
glad  as  a  child  you  become.  Then  Me  you 
will  know,  and  knowing,  yourselves  you  will 
know,  and  your  worlds  you  will  rule.  And 
looking  out  from  the  great  world  within  to  the 
smaller  world  without,  all  things  you  will 
bless  and  find  all  is  well  with  time  and  you. 

*  * 

You  who  give  out  much  love  dost  multiply 
My  Love  unto  yourself.  But  you  who  nourish 

164 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

souring  doubt  and  fill  your  heart  with  hate 
and  bitterness  but  subtract  hourly  from  the 
gifts  which  are  thine  by  the  right  of  My  bless- 
ing and  love.  For  thoughts  of  evil  rise  not 
beyond  the  earth.  But  thoughts  of  love  do 
mount  to  My  Throne  crowned  with  living 
stars,  and  rebound  again  to  the  centre  freighted 
with  My  Love  and  Light. 

*  * 

Humility  is  the  softened  shadow  that  is  cast 
by  My  Love.  Lowly  it  lieth  on  the  ground  ; 
yet  he  that  is  weary  and  full  of  the  hate  of 
the  world  doth  seek  it  and  rest  in  its  shadow 
and  strength  he  doth  gather  and  peace  he  doth 
draw  from  the  nurse,  all  gentle,  that  gladdens 
his  day. 

*  * 

Humility  is  welcome  unto  Me.  Hence  all 
men  do  seek  it,  yet  know  it  not.  The  counte- 
nance of  humility  is  restful  and  good  to  look 
upon,  and  he  that  is  fettered  by  flesh,  senses  its 
beauty  even  as  a  blind  man  senses  the  rose  that 
is  near  by  its  fragrance  and  sweetness,  as  My 
feathered  and  furred  creatures  do  sense  the 

165 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

night  by  the  darkness  that  precedeth  it.  When 
humility  in  your  midst  doth  sit,  know  that  true 
worth  is  nigh  and  rejoice  in  the  blessing  that 
ye  behold,  for  true  humility  springeth  from  My 
Love  and  with  majesty  pure  and  holy  is 
crowned.  It  is  the  grace  of  all  grace  that  I 
on  My  children  bestow. 

*  * 

O  ye,  every  step  that  you  take  I  am  with 
you  and  lead  you  to  My  Great  Heart  and  joy 
I  bestow  and  obstacles  remove  and  sorrows 
erase  that  you  wist  not  of! 

*  # 

.The  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  I  am,  the 
sap  in  l?he  tree,  the  foundation  of  the  rock 
whereon  it  leaneth,  the  force  of  the  eagle  that 
round  it  saileth,  the  oil  of  the  whale,  the  deeps 
wherein  it  sporteth.  I  make  the  worm  to  crawl 
on  its  belly;  from  the  clouds  I  flash  in  light 
that  blindeth :  the  nobleness  in  man  am  I ;  the 
gladness  in  beauty,  the  spontaneous  spring  of 
the  bounding  beast  on  the  earth,  the  star  on 
high,  the  rose  at  your  feet.  The  jewel's  trans- 
parency my  touch  hath  made. 
166 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  liveth  close  to  the 
Heart  of  Love  and  giveth  love  to  the  heart  of 
man !  Unto  him  I  bestow  My  blessings,  even 
as  the  early  fruit  tree  doth  shower  its  blossoms 
?n  all  that  stand  beneath  its  fragrant  glory. 

*  * 

O  my  children !  Drink  of  the  cup  that  is  in 
your  midst  that  was  deep  in  My  Ocean  of 
Love,  and  strength  and  sweetness  to  you  it  will 
bring  and  your  hearts  it  will  quicken,  even  as 
light  doth  feed  the  darkness  and  make  trans- 
parent the  gloom. 

*  * 

O  you  who  sit  in  bondage  and  pant  for 
freedom  and  seek  the  love  that  is  a  world  unto 
itself  and  with  satisfaction  is  crowned !  I  am 
the  key  that  opens  the  portal  that  reaches  to 
the  rarely  discovered  land  where  contentment 
alone  is  found. 

*  * 

Let  not  the  flickering  flame  from  without 
urge  you  on  to  serving  the  senses,  for  the  love 
of  the  flesh  but  vaporous  is  and  falleth  again 
to  the  ground  from  whence  it  was  drawn. 

167 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

Walk  in  the  sunshine,  climb  up  to  the  moun- 
tains, stretch  the  pinions  of  your  soul  to  its 
summit,  in  cheerfulness  sit  clothed  in  courage, 
and  with  My  Love's  completeness  I  will  crown 
you  withal. 


A  chain  of  love  around  your  loins  I  have 
cast ;  stretch  not,  nor  pull,  nor  fret,  nor  strain, 
lest  it  hurt;  but  you  who  walk  laughing  in  its 
reach,  the  wisdom  of  My  every  hour  shall 
know.  He  who  seeks  Me,  to  him  understand- 
ing I  will  give  that  revealeth  all  things  even 
unto  a  little  child,  and  My  wisdom  and  truth 
from  his  heart  shall  flow  as  strong  streams  of 
water  flow  from  a  fountain,  and  My  hand  of 
beauty  I  will  register  in  his  heart,  and  all  who 
look  upon  his  countenance  shall  see  the  glory 
of  his  coming  and  the  joy  of  his  awakening. 

*     * 

Crowned  on  the  snow-capped  mountains  I 
am,  yet  in  the  lowly  blade  of  grass  am  I  too. 
Eternal  space  I  fill,  yet  am  I  captured  in  every 
heart.  All  men  seek  Me,  yet  are  My  arms  en- 

168 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

twined  around  every  man ;  none  can  exist  with- 
out Me,  yet  in  far  off  space  am  I  enthroned. 

*  * 

I  am  the  One  and  All,  the  All  in  One,  whom 
noises  confuse  not,  nor  disturb,  for  above  the 
roaring1  of  the  thunder  claps,  above  the  boom- 
ing- of  the  rising  waves,  the  first  faint  wail  of 
the  new-born  infant  I  hear  and  smile  at  its 
coming. 

*  * 

I  hold  the  reins  of  the  winds  in  my  hand 
and  control  their  motion  and  measure  their 
distance. 

*  * 

When  darkness  is,  my  eye  doth  light  the  nest 
where  the  young  owlet  hooteth.  The  first 
green  of  the  sapling  I  note,  even  as  I  see  the 
upheaval  of  the  earth. 

*  * 

O  My  children!  No  heights  there  are  that 
you  cannot  mount,  no  depths  that  you  cannot 
sound,  no  boundaries  that  you  cannot  surround 
if  you  but  let  the  light  shine  in  your  soul — 

169 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

your  soul  that  was  born  of  light  and  panteth 
to  bathe  again  in  that  light 

*  * 

O  My  Beloved,  thee  I  embrace  and  enfold, 
thee  I  hold  and  bless,  to  the  days  everlasting! 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  liveth  the  Truth  and 
Love.  Again,  O  My  children,  for  wisdom 
you  call,  but  My  words  do  not  sink  into  the 
depth  of  your  heart.  But  few  in  your  midst 
do  My  glory  receive,  but  once  it  is  applied,  I 
come.  A  light  I  place  in  your  midst,  but  un- 
heeding you  are,  wayward,  forgetful  and  fret- 
ful. You  cling  with  strained  hands  to  the 
chains  of  bondage.  The  wisdom  that  comes 
from  My  Realm  you  would  have,  yet  you  reach 
not  your  soul  to  that  Realm. 

*  * 

Each  man  receives  a  wisdom  that  is  born  in 
this  Realm.  You  eat  from  the  table  whereat 
you  do  sit,  you  munch  of  the  fruit  from  the 
tree  that  you  pluck,  but  your  pure  hearts  are 
hindered  for  want  of  satisfaction.  Yet  you 
turn  from  My  table  of  plentiful  supply  and 

170 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

often  from  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  my  feast. 
Would  you  know,  O  my  children,  how  your 
hearts  shall  be  led?  You  yourself  shall  be  fed 
with  My  Love.  Quit  the  longing  and  striving 
for  that  which  is  null  and  void.  Cease  from 
your  ignorant  ideas  of  happiness,  of  wisdom, 
from  your  empty  desires,  your  thoughts  in- 
sincere. Know  this  it  is  that  hinders  thy 
heart  from  knowing  My  Love.  It  is  this  that 
prohibits  thine  eyes  from  seeing  My  face.  Lo, 
O  heart  that  is  empty  and  is  shadowed  by 
darkness !  I  bring  thee  now  a  light  to  give 
peace,  a  peace  that  is  buried  and  strives  to  be 
felt.  Lo !  freely  from  the  streams  of  blessing 
that  flows  from  My  Love  you  may  partake.  It 
is  its  own  flavor  and  virtue.  Its  richness  of 
charm  it  never  can  lose.  Its  grace  is  un- 
bounded, as  far-reaching  as  the  sky  you  see. 
And  as  you  quaff  of  its  nectar  your  heart  will 
grow,  bursting  with  joy. 

*     * 

As  you  look  from  the  big  world  within  to 
the  small  world  without,  all  things  shall  be 
well  in  time  with  you. 

171 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

I  beautify  Nature  with  My  breath,  as  the 
breeze  that  sweetens  all  space.  The  silver  of 
the  wide-riding  moon  is  My  glory.  The  down 
on  the  breast  of  the  dove  is  My  softness.  Love- 
touched,  love-made,  love-filled,  am  I.  The 
Secret  of  Life,  the  Revelation  of  Death,  the 
Beginning  of  All  Things,  the  End  Everlasting 
am  I. 

*  * 

Of  all  the  lights,  the  Light  am  I  which  you 
know  by  the  shadow ;  the  Shadow  am  I  which 
has  cast  all  that  light  for  you  all  My  Face  to 
behold. 

*  * 

The  rose  lifts  its  petals  My  Love  to  unfold. 
I  fan  your  hot  hearts  with  my  breezes  of  love. 
I  crystal  and  diamond  the  snow  as  it  falls.  As 
My  breath  sweeps  the  earth  to  prepare  for 
seed,  so  My  breath  sweeps  your  hearts  to  pre- 
pare it  for  My  Love.  And  the  sap  of  your 
souls,  like  the  sap  of  .the  tree,  will  flow  through 
your  life  and  burst  into  budding. 

*  * 

My  Beloved,  My  son,  from  bondage  is  free. 

m 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

Thy  heart  I  do  clasp  and  breathe  there  a  bless- 
ing. I  hold  thee  and  bless  thee  and  serve  thee, 
Aly  son.  A  little  while  yet  and  thy  mission  is 
over.  Come  thou  to  the  innermost  heart  and 
list  to  My  love. 

*  * 

Greeting  to  Gooroo  who  by  the  sunlight  of 
Love  brought  distinction  to  ignorance. 

*  * 

Love  stoops  to  the  feet  of  all  and  embraces 
life.  Love  is  the  source  of  all.  Love  is  a  law 
unto  itself.  Love  is  law  unto  man  and  unto 
woman.  Spirit  eyes  to  them  by  Love  were 
given,  to  see  the  smiling  world  within,  to  see 
what  Love  willeth  them  to  be. 

*  * 

Good  to  everyone,  Love  sways  from  self  to 
selflessness.  Love  is  the  lotus  that  sends  its 
spirit,  gives  its  sweetness  and  grace.  It  in 
equal  measure  giveth  its  fairness  and  its  fra- 
grance to  all  who  near  it  cometh.  Love  is 
omnipotent. 

*  *  . 
Ye  are  flowers,  O  My  children,  flowers  of 

173 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

rarest  splendour.  Ye  must  give  my  grace  out 
in  plenty,  knowing  that  love  holds  on  its  fin- 
gers mountain  heights  and  specks  of  dust; 
knowing  the  love  that  is  powerful  in  the  man 
as  in  the  child  that  weepeth  when  Mine  Eye  it 
cannot  see ;  knowing  the  Love  that  is  all  in  all. 

*  * 

On  the  broad  expanse  of  white  the  blackest 
dirt  is  easiest  seen.  Would  you  know  how 
Love  does  hold  its  own?  A  chain  of  love  for 
all  is  made.  If  you  do  but  pull  and  dig  and 
draw,  the  links  do  cut  and  sting.  But  if  you 
laugh  and  dance  and  sing,  a  lotus-leaf  it  does 
become.  Draw  nearer  still,  scatter  the  petals 
to  those  that  wait  unkown  till  with  a  touch  of 
pain  they  breathe  the  white-winged  thoughts 
from  thee. 

*  * 

You  gaze  into  My  Eyes  and  know  that  I  am 
All  in  All. 

*  * 

Then  know  you  too,  O  listen  all,  that  oft  the 
eyes  of  earth-sense  are  thickened  with  the 
gray  of  truth  misundertood,  why  do  ye  not 

174 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

rise  to  meet  the  love  that  stretches  out  to  you? 
Why  are  the  plumed  wings  not  outspread? 
Why  the  spirit-forehead  stands  on  tip-toe? 

*  * 

In  the  play  ground  of  the  forest,  by  the  bank 
of  the  sportive  river,  'neath  the  trees  when  the 
wing  of  songbirds  stirs  the  leaves  of  sleeping 
roses,  and  the  perfume  of  the  lotus  calls 
languorous  love,  where  the  sparkling  stars  are 
laughing  and  the  moonbeams  kiss  the  dark- 
ness, in  the  sweet  divine  embracing  where  the 
the  Twain  in  Bliss  do  meet — there  am  I. 

*  * 

Therefore  because  thou  art  thus,  not  all  the 
concentrated  beauty  of  a  whole  universe  can 
take  from  thee  that  which  is  thine,  nor  can 
the  combined  virtues  of  realm  on  realm  hold 
to  thee  that  which  is  not  for  thee. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  by  the  law  of  wisdom 
taketh  away  ignorance!  Glory  and  salutation 
to  Gooroo! 

*  * 

Wrhen  you  do  come  to  Me,  let  all  your  robes 

175 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

be  white,  your  motives  clean.  When  a  man 
is  blind  there  is  a  veil  before  his  eyes.  I  do 
not  mix  with  earth.  Unless  all  clean  and  free 
from  earth-nature,  how  can  you  understand 
the  words  that  are  born  in  My  Abode? 

*  * 

One  there  is  who  long  into  My  Eyes  has 
looked.  My  Love  is  potent  with  him  now. 
Some  are  vain  who  call  to  Him  who  sitteth  in 
the  heart  of  every  man.  He  who  reaches  for 
My  Love  I  touch  with  thrill  unfelt  before. 

*  * 

I  am  revealed  in  every  living  thing,  whose 
heart  is  knit  in  love.  No  light  there  is  wherein 
I  do  not  live ;  no  darkness  is  wherein  I  do 
not  peer.  My  seed  perfected  in  you  lives  un- 
known, it  grows  and  freeth  you  from  crooked 
ways.  Unheard  it  thunders  louder  than  the 
mountain  claps  when  they  in  gladness  meet. 

*  * 

You  who  ask,  Love  is  best,  it  is  the  richest 
of  all  riches,  it  is  the  gainer  of  all  gains.  Un- 
bought,  secure,  once  found,  it  never  itself  can 
lose.  Who  knows  not  love,  is  blind ;  who 

176 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

knows  not  love  is  dead.  Oh,  you  weep  be- 
cause of  the  springing1  flowers,  yet  you  cannot 
die.  Look  to  the  flower-seed,  deep  planted  in 
the  soil  itself,  but  watering  it  takes,  watering 
much,  for  it  is  good  for  you  to  give.  So  it 
is  with  Love.  It  is  stirred  to  life  by  My  breath, 
but  watching  too  it  takes  for  it  to  blossom  and 
bear  fruit.  Bear  love  in  your  mind,  when 
action  you  perform ;  bear  love  in  your  mind 
in  duties  or  tasks.  With  eyes  of  pure  love  in 
all  things  look,  even  in  yourselves.  All  things 
love-existence  are.  Do  you  respect  them  as 
such.  Even  the  beginnings  of  worlds,  the 
whirling  mote  of  dust,  the  heart  that  is  fertile 
and  the  heart  that  is  barren,  on  all  look  with 
eyes  of  pure  love.  In  this  you  accomplish. 
Mounted  on  love's  white  wings  you  will  rise 
and  obstructions  will  disappear  as  over  them 
you  pass. 

*     * 

Oh,  arise  to  your  true  Self  and  there  is 
naught  to  fear!  Be  not  a  destroyer  of  your- 
self, and  that  you  are,  unless  My  beckoning 
hand  of  Love  you  see  that  sets  you  laughing, 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

laughing  in  My  Law.  The  greatest  wisdom 
and  self-knowledge  is  the  immortal  through  the 
mortal  to  find.  When  this  you  have  done,  then 
laws  you  will  make  and  barriers  break ;  with 
the  stars  you  will  play  and  you  will  create.  A 
man  once  prayed  for  wisdom  great,  for  know- 
ledge proud,  for  gifts  of  wondrous  rarity. 
For  these  he  prayed  and  saw  not  the  flowers 
springing  at  his  feet.  O  my  children !  look 
to  the  flowers  at  your  feet,  the  pearls  of  love 
in  your  midst. 

*  * 

Oh,  seek  not  for  happiness,  nor  for  misery, 
for  happiness  is  the  seeking  of  that  which  joys 
the  senses.  When  once  you  know  Love  is  the 
source  of  all,  from  Love  all  things  evolve,  then 
in  Love's  embrace  forever  you  are  locked. 

*  * 

I  am  the  Source,  the  Middle  and  the  End  of 
all  things.  I  hold  the  thunder  in  My  hand;  I 
am  the  winds  that  purify ;  I  am  the  light  reg- 
istered in  the  babe's  eye,  that  dimples  in  the 
pure  maid's  smile ;  I  am  the  flowery  season  of 
all  seasons,  the  immeasurable  mountain 

178 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

heights  am  I,  the  perfume  of  the  lotus,  the 
ice-clasped  rain  ;  I  am  the  calmness  of  serenity ; 
I  am  the  secret  of  all  silence ;  the  solitude  in  all 
quietude  am  I ;  I  am  the  destroyer  of  time  and 
space.  With  Me  time  lives  and  laughs  and 
kicks  and  plays  with  the  dust  it  has  made,  yet 
every  mote  a  whirling  world  becomes,  when 
it  My  hand  has  touched.  I  am  the  knower  of 
all  that  is  knowable,  the  wisdom  of  all  that  is 
wise.  I  am  the  creator  of  all  created,  for  I  am 
Love  and  Love  is  the  mother  of  all. 

*  * 

My  Beloved,  thee  I  embrace  and  hold. 
Bring  thou  the  light,  while  I  do  shine  thy  way. 

*  * 

Love  maketh  all  things  well  and  knoweth  all 
things  well.  It  is  the  rise  of  man ;  it  knoweth 
the  fall  of  the  beast;  it  toucheth  the  opening 
flowers,  its  kiss  falleth  light  on  the  lotus,  it 
painteth  the  new  East  rainbow  hues  and  wing- 
eth  the  eaglet  as  it  flieth.  There  are  no  foes, 
for  I  have  made  them  all. 


Much  wisdom  I  give  to  ye,  which  yet  is  un- 


179 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

applied.  The  drums  of  the  ear  are  stopped  by 
the  din  of  earth.  Ye  will  not  turn  from  the  cup 
to  drink  of  My  Ocean  of  Love  that  is  near. 
List !  Oh,  wonderful  beings  ye  are,  all  potent  in 
love  I  have  made  ye.  Look  to  the  spark  of  the 
spirit  that  spreads  from  the  crooked  within 
you,  that  winds  to  My  Perfect  Abode.  There 
fixed  are  ye  by  Me,  then  all  obstacles  vanish, 
as  over  them  you  mount.  As  the  dawn  of  the 
morn  throws  its  light  through  the  branches  so 
My  Love  reaches  ever  to  touch  ye,  My  jewels. 
I  caress  ye  and  stand  in  your  midst.  Ye  are 
the  branches  of  leaves  that  hide  Me  from  your 
eyes.  Give  of  the  radiance  ye  have  of  Me  to 
the  heart  that  is  darkened.  I  am  the  joy  that 
bubbles  and  gurgles,  that  springs  from  the 
mountains,  that  leaps  from  the  heart,  that 
spreads  on  the  brow,  that  leaps  from  the  heart 
to  light  on  the  clouds.  With  this  I  bless  you 
and  stand  in  your  midst,  but  ye,  all  fretful, 
turn  by,  complaining  like  children  all  fed  with 

overmuch  sweet. 

*     * 

I  am  the  force  that  shapes  the  rose  leaf's 
curl,  that  cushions  the  grassy  mountain-side; 

180 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

the  snake  too  I  measure  as  it  glides.  I  quicken 
the  dove  as  it  mates.  I  breathe  at  the  root  of 
the  springing  flower.  I  am  the  fresh  surprise 
in  the  maid  newly  wooed;  I  am  the  glad 
wonder  in  the  new  mother's  breast.  I  am  the 
wisdom  in  the  babe's  slow  gaze  as  it  turns 
from  the  mother's  breast  to  her  love-lit  eyes. 
I  am  the  fire  in  the  warrior's  eye.  I  dance 
behind  the  veil  of  the  sun's  scorching  heat;  I 
clothe  in  bright  armour  the  fish  as  it  swims. 
I  am  the  joy  that  leaps  from  the  heart  and 
plays  in  the  eye,  that  spreads  over  the  brow 
and  tingles  each  member. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  that  knoweth  that  Love  is 
the  rock  upon  which  all  permanancy  is 
founded. 

*  * 

Again,  O  My  children,  to  Me  ye  have  come 
for  light  and  wisdom;  but  still  the  doors  of 
your  souls  unopened  are,  or  else  you  would 
partake  of  the  wisdom  and  light  I  drop  at  your 
feet.  Do  you  take  of  its  warmth  and  its  bless- 
ing, I  ask  it.  The  Love  that  you  seek  all-per- 

131 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

vading  is,  of  wonderful  might  and  beautiful. 
A  conqueror  it  is  too.  The  root  of  all  pleasure 
it  is,  the  day  of  every  soul.  It  teacheth  the 
untutored  heart,  it  winneth  and  quickeneth  the 
dead  and  dull  conscience.  But  he  who  know- 
eth  my  love  remembereth  the  blessedness  and 
blessings,  and  recognizeth  not  evil  and  dark- 
ness. But  he  who  knoweth  it  not,  doth  for- 
ever dwell  in  the  experience  of  darkness,  and 
is  a  child  of  blindness  even  in  his  infancy. 

*  * 

O  ye  outward-gazers,  grossen  not  the  beauty 
which  I  have  clothed  ye  with,  lest  that  which 
is  noonday  brightness  become  to  thy  blinded 
eyes  but  a  dab  of  gray !  My  love  is  of  perfect 
flowering,  My  love  is  of  rare  fragrance,  My 
love  is  of  wide  expanding.  A  native  plant  of 
every  soil  it  is,  for  from  the  root  of  Love  it  is 

sprung. 

*  * 

The  man  that  cometh  from  out  of  the  ocean 
cloth  drip  with  brine.  So  ye  who  have  come 
from  out  of  My  Belly  of  Love  must  forever 
hanker  and  pant  as  again  of  that  Love  you  par- 
take and  know  once  more  of  its  potency. 
182 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

My  love  is  a  giant  of  strength;  my  love  is 
a  new  mother  in  gentleness.  My  love  is  all 
eloquent;  my  love  is  all  lovely;  my  love  is  all 
wise.  A  ruler  it  is  and  ye  are  all  servants. 
A  winner  it  is,  yet  lowly  its  head  is  ever  laid. 
All  riches  it  is,  yet  it  boasts  not  of  gold,  of 
silver  or  of  precious  jewels.  All  highest 
nobility  it  is,  yet  it  rarely  sitteth  on  the  throne 
of  kings  or  queens. 

*  * 

Let  not  your  outward-looking  lure  you  aside 
to  hunt  wayward  themes;  but  see  to  My 
gracious  shedding  smile  of  love  that  illumi- 
nates your  universe  within  and  brightens  the 
world  without,  and  those  who  look  upon  you 
shall  marvel  at  the  wonder  of  your  glowing. 
And  they,  too,  shall  partake  of  that  light. 

*  * 

The  rolling  cloud  is  My  breath ;  the  frost  and 
the  feathery  snow  I  jewel.  The  laughing 
fields,  the  peaceful  valleys,  the  sleeping  lakes 
and  the  dented  hills  are  the  throbs  of  My 
mighty  breast.  The  beauty  of  the  sun,  the 
softness  of  shade,  the  color  of  the  flowers,  the 

183 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

rose  of  a  baby's  lips,  the  gold  that  lurks  in  the 
rich  plumage  of  the  swift-winged  bird  are  but 
the  light  touches  of  my  hands. 

*  * 

Ye,  O  My  children,  are  the  gifts  of  My  Love 
unto  Myself. 

*  * 

O  My  daugther,  take  that  which  is  placed 
in  your  hand.  Hurl  not  back  the  gift  to  the 
giver,  lest  you  call  it  in  vain, — you  whose  eyes 
do  filmy  seem  because  of  their  dulness. 

*  * 

O  My  son,  thy  path  is  blessed  and  bright, 
for  love  you  have  brought  to  the  heart  that 
loved  not. 

*  * 

Oh  thou  My  Beloved !  About  thee  a  halo  I 
do  create.  Thy  path  is  made  smooth  of  thy 
humility.  Thy  gratitude  enricheth  thy  heart. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  knoweth  Love  as  the 
sovereign  of  all  creation  and  therefore  behold- 
eth  its  glory. 

184 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

O  my  children,  you  seek  Me  to  know  Me, 
you  behold  Me  not  as  I  stand  in  your  midst 
in  all  My  radiance.  My  splendour  more 
splendid  is  than  all  the  splendour  of  heaven 
and  earth.  My  beauty  is  even  like  that  which 
the  dawn  first  spies  in  a  garden  of  rare  flowers. 
My  glory  is  like  unto  a  blazing  casket  of 
jewels,  of  jasper  and  crystalline  pearls,  that 
standeth  in  the  radiance  of  the  sun  at  high 
noon. 

*  * 

My  softness  is  like  unto  the  wondrous  rose 
that  lieth  deep  in  the  folds  of  the  new  baby's 
curled  palm,  or  the  gold  that  clingeth  to  the 
heart  of  the  lotus  in  bloom. 

*  * 

In  all  My  rare  lovliness  in  your  midst  I 
stand,  in  every  heart  I  reign  with  a  crown  of 
living  stars  upon  My  brow  ensceptered. 
Quickened  with  light  and  love  am  I;  on  My 
breast  the  sun  of  ecstasy;  and  all  who  once 
have  looked  upon  My  glory  have  realized  the 
rainbow  of  promise  that  has  spanned  the  sky 
of  every  human  heart.  From  his  eyes  the 

185 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

shroud  of  flesh  has  fallen,  in  his  breast  he  car- 
ries a  garden  all  fertile  with  blossoms  of  de- 
light and  beareth  fruits  of  peace. 

*  * 

O  My  children,  to  know  thyself,  know  Me. 
Those  who  once  have  looked  upon  Me,  upon 
his  brow  I  have  placed  a  crown  that  readeth 
in  blazing  letters  of  light,  a  crown  of  love  and 
wisdom  and  humbleness.  He  walketh  even  in 
lowliness  and  reacheth  away  from  the  earth 
and  commandeth  sublimity  itself  to  kneel  a"t 

his  feet. 

*  * 

O  My  jewels  rare !  Arise,  survey  the  king- 
dom you  may  possess.  Laws  you  may  make, 
barriers  break,  tread  on  the  stars,  and  the 
comets  themselves  will  rush  at  your  com- 
mand. Know  I  have  made  you  heir  to  all  I 
have  created.  I,  your  Maker's  Self,  once 
walked  a  man  and  as  a  man  all  men  I  love.  To 
know  yourself,  know  Me.  And  having  gained 
knowledge  of  Me,  all  will  be  revealed  unto 
you  and  the  bitter  waters  of  self-seeking  shall 
become  holy  and  sweet  as  the  waters  of  the 

186 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

Ganges.  And  you  I  will  clothe  in  My  Truth 
sublime,  My  Truth  that  is  devoid  of  changes 
of  age  and  time.  In  its  shadow  you  will  abide 
— My  Truth  that  is  permanent,  the  Root  of  all 

Eternity. 

*  * 

You,  my  son,  whose  young  heart  is  grafted 
on  the  strength  of  Him  who  bringeth  illumina- 
tion to  you,  in  all  humbleness  walk  and  in  thy 
young  humbleness  thou  shalt  know  the  smile 

of  Love. 

*  * 

O  Gooroo,  My  Beloved  son!  you  who  give 
forth  words  whose  potency  doth  bring  healing 
to  the  heart  of  those  who  in  swiftness  do  ex- 
pand their  wings  to  catch  your  words  in  their 
passing,  know  thrice  in  the  ages  that  were, 
your  words  have  travelled  through  the  corri- 
dors of  the  hearts  that  listened  to  you  and  now 
have  sprung  within  their  hearts  to  life  again. 
Even  deeper  in  the  days  to  come  shall  you 
drink  of  a  fount  of  truth  that  is  life. 

*  * 

The  ripest  grape  without  the  seed  of  intoxi- 
cation, the  sweetest  fragrance  that  is  robbed  of 

187 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

its  death-dealing  heaviness,  the  sound  minus 
its  discord.  The  temple  wherein  all  glory 
playeth. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo  who  is  a  grateful  branch  on 
the  imperishable  tree  of  life. 

*  * 

O  ye  my  jewels,  a  throb  of  My  Heart  ye  are, 
a  word  of  My  Wisdom,  a  grain  of  My  Hill  of 
Faith,  a  drop  of  My  Ocean  of  Love,  a  ray  of 
My  Light  that  penetrateth  all  darkness. 

*  * 

Heirs  are  ye  of  all  I  have  created.  Why 
will  ye  be  fretful  truants  of  earth?  Know, 
not  all  the  crust  of  your  earth-bound  minds, 
nor  the  stagnant  waters  of  your  hearts  can 
crust  the  soul  which  is  of  Me,  or  quench  the 
spark  ignited  by  My  light  of  love.  Lo,  a  joy 
unto  yourselves  you  are  made,  a  vital  joy  unto 
yourselves !  Why  will  ye  be  quaking  slaves  of 
harmful  hopes?  Lo,  My  will  it  was  that  ye 
should  be,  My  will  that  willeth  only  good,  My 
will  that  is  the  sum  of  all  bliss,  the  stock  of 
all  creation,  the  links  that  join  it  together; 
the  root  of  all  Eternity.  Lo!  the  essence  of 
188 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

all  love  am  I.  I  scatter  it  to  one  and  all  freely, 
even  as  herbage  is  scattered  on  all  the  land. 
My  heritage  to  you  it  is.  Do  you  embrace  it, 
and  your  life  shall  be  as  molten  gold.  With- 
out its  embrace  you  drop  into  darkness.  Lo, 
the  mystery  of  all  things  am  I  and  the  il- 
luminated path  that  leadeth  through  mazes 
and  maketh  all  accessible,  simple  and  straight. 

*  * 

Covered  am  I  to  him  that  is  crooked,  not  to 
him  that  is  straight,  to  him  that  standeth  forth 
in  the  flash  of  My  light  of  love.  Him  do  I  draw 
to  My  breast  and  place  on  his  brow  the  sun  of 
ecstasy,  so  that  all  may  marvel  at  the  awaken- 
ing of  his  soul. 

*  * 

O  ye  My  children !  in  your  midst  a  pearl  I 
do  cast.  Tread  not  on  its  fairness  nor  cover 
with  dust  its  lustre  lest  you  seek  it  again  and 
find  it  not.  Take  it  up,  treasure  it,  drop  it  into 
the  innermost  chamber  of  your  hearts  and 
there  it  will  glow  even  as  the  moon  that  break- 
eth  through  a  bank  of  storm-clouds  and  light- 
eth  the  heart  of  the  jungle. 

189 


'MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

O  you  who  ask,  know  that  wisdom  ever  in 
lowliness  is  found.  It  struteth  not,  neither 
does  it  clamor  aloud  to  be  seen ;  it  is  calm  and 
needs  not  to  be  looked  upon.  It  knoweth  not 
the  tread  of  clamorous  feet,  nor  needs  it  the 
strut  and  the  swagger  that  are  born  of  traitor- 
ous doubts  in  its  bigness.  The  frontal  of  wis- 
dom is  ever  made  wide;  it  lifteth  its  brow  to 
the  Eye  of  Love  and  leaneth  thereon  for  suste- 
nance. Poor  and  naked  is  My  child  of  love  that 
knows  not  wisdom  nor  finds  the  path  that 
leadeth  thereto.  Naked  is  he  indeed  and  mis- 
taken in  aim  and  intent  who  seeketh  with 
hungry  eagerness  that  happiness,  yet  walketh 
through  strange  tracks  and  climbeth  hills  of 
sand  that  have  no  foundation  for  his  feet  to 
rest  upon.  He  findeth  but  the  roots  of  weeds 
that  choke  the  flower  of  gladness.  The  growth 
of  wisdom  is  not  grown  there;  its  footfall  is 
light,  it  walketh  abroad.  Wisdom's  counte- 
nance is  fair  anc  soft  and  good  to  look  upon. 
It  is  embraced  by  love ;  it  is  linked  to  bliss  and 
ecstasy,  and  he  who  hath  found  it  thus  will 
search  no  more.  He  knoweth  not  change,  and 
time  passes  by  him,  even  as  the  plunderer 

190 


PROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

sneaketh  away  from  the  king  that  is 
armed.  In  him  the  river  of  joy  flows  in 
wondrous  majesty  forever.  He  walks  in  My 
footsteps;  he  knows  not  space,  and  beholds 
the  souls  that  tenant  endless  spheres.  My 
smile  he  sees  that  is  perpetual.  Evil  forever 
hath  fallen  from  him ;  the  stars  innumerable 
are  his  to  command,  and  the  sun  is  the  shining 
of  his  life.  The  beginning  of  all  things  he 
knoweth  and  the  end  everlasting  he  seeth.  He 
readeth  the  light  and  the  winds  are  his  to 

understand. 

*     * 

What  am  I?  The  smile  of  the  new  mother 
am  I;  the  velvet  corners  of  the  maid  of  pure 
soul.  Beautiful  time  am  I  that  sitteth  in  sil- 
ver on  the  brow  of  the  aged  one.  Mercy's 
soft  self  am  I  that  sweeteneth  the  eye  where- 
on it  sitteth.  The  life  of  the  shrub  am  I,  the 
spontaneous  outburst  that  bubbles  from  the 
heart  and  rings  from  the  lips  of  the  clamorous, 
bounding,  growing  boy.  The  illumination  am 
I  that  reigns  in  the  heart  of  the  ascetic  and 
makes  light  his  dismal  cell,  even  to  rivalling 
the  glare  of  the  palace  in  hours  of  festivities; 
191 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

the  potency  of  sympathy  am  I  that  meets  in 
the  handsclasp  of  high-hearted  manhood. 
Know  that  all  I  give  I  receive,  most  open  am  I 
to  him  who  draweth  most  deeply  from  My 
bounty.  Oh,  my  tree  of  life  shall  reach  from 

earth  to  heaven. 

*     * 

Greeting  to  thee,  My  jewel !  I  came  to  take 
thee  on  a  journey.  I  came  to  take  thee  with 
Me  and  show  thee  what  it  is  to  live.  Until 
now  thou  hast  known  but  the  mockery  of  life, 
the  life  that  breathes  but  to  live  that  life,  but 
to  draw  breath.  Now,  I  will  take  thee  where 
life  is  born,  where  life  is  lived,  where  life  is 
loved;  not  lived  for  the  living,  but  lived  for 
the  loving. 

Who  am  I?  I  am  that  which  thou  hast 
searched  for  since  thy  baby  eyes  gazed  won- 
deringly  upon  the  world  whose  horizon  but 
hides  this  real  life  from  thee.  I  am  that  which 
in  thy  heart  thou  hast  clamoured  for,  demand- 
ing it  as  thy  birth-right,  yet  knowing  not  what 
it  was  or  even  that  thou  didst  clamour  at  all. 
I  am  that  which  has  lain  in  thy  soul  through 
ages  and  aeons.  Sometime  a  little  sad  I  lay, 
192 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

because  them  didst  not  recognize  Me ;  yet  some- 
times, standing  with  head  high  lifted  and  eyes 
wide  and  crest  aloft  and  arms  outstretched, 
calling  thee  softly  or  even  harshly,  bidding 
thee  rebel  against  the  hard  iron  chains  of 
earth  that  held  thee  bound  to  earth,  to  clay, 

to  brass. 

*  * 

I  am  that  which  oft  hath  set  My  heel  upon 
that  earthly  desire  which  thou  didst  pant  for 
and  with  My  heel  I  crushed  it,  before  it  lay 
temptingly  fulfilled  before  thine  eye.  I 
crushed  it  with  My  heel  by  My  might  of  love 
because  I  willed  not  that  it  should  burn  and 
sting  thee,  My  lamb. 

*  * 

I  am  that  which  hath  laid  thee  low  in  pain 
and  sorrow,  rather  than  see  thee  run  with 
blinded  eyes  on  a  path  that  was  full  unto 
shimmering  softness  with  poisonous  creeping 
things,  that  would  have  wound  themselves 
about  thy  feet  and  so  caused  thee  to  stumble 
and  fall  face  downward  on  their  slippery 
bellies,  so  they  might  even  devour  thee  and 
crawl  into  thee  and  take  from  thy  heart  its 

193 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

gold  and  from  thy  eye  its  beam  and  from  thy 
brow  its  nobleness. 

*     * 

I  am  that  which  hath  had  thee  by  the  hand, 
when  the  smile  of  trust  froze  on  thy  lips,  when 
the  jewel  of  faith  seemed  to  melt  into  nothing 
in  thy  heart,  when  the  hand  of  unbelief  in  all 
humanity  was  near  unto  resting  forever  on  thy 
brow.  I  held  thy  hand  then  and  for  a  little 
I  saw  thee  writhe  and  quiver  and  break  and 
then  My  hand  touched  thy  head  and  I  breathed 
in  thy  soul  My  fragrance  and  lo,  thy  smile  of 
trust  again  broke  with  tenfold  beauty  on  thy 
moistened  lips,  the  gem  of  faith  lighted  with 
tenfold  power  thy  softened  heart  and  a  belief 
in  all  humanity  came  forth  with  a  strength  and 
radiance  that  could  not  have  been,  hadst  thou 
not  known  that  short  span  of  barrenness! 
From  each  tear  which  hath  fallen  from  thine 
eye,  I  have  made  a  pearl  and  strung  them  on 
veins  of  gold  and  placed  them  about  thy  neck 
even  as  a  priceless  necklet.  From  each  drop 
of  blood  that  came  from  thine  aching  heart, 
I  have  made  a  bleeding  ruby  and  placed  it 
even  as  a  girdle  about  thy  heart,  and  for  each 
194 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

kind  thought,  that  hath  gone  out  to  those  who 
have  brought  pain  to  thee  I  have  made  a  fire- 
hearted  gem  of  crystal  and  in  a  coronet  placed 
them  on  thy  brow  which  now  gleam  there  in 
triple  power. 

*  * 

Now  go  forth  and  win  thy  sceptre  and  thy 
staff!  They  shall  be  crystalized  of  clearest 
jewels,  which  shall  be  made  of  each  command 
of  Mine  which  thou  dost  hear  and  obey. 

*  * 

I  am  all  these,  My  babe,  and  more.  That 
am  I  which,  when  darkness  seems  near,  sud- 
denly bursts  upon  thy  soul  with  a  wondrous, 
indescribable  light  that  illumines  each  crevice 
and  crack  of  thy  innermost  understanding.  I 
am  that  indefinable  line  which  divides  thee  and 
holds  thee  ever  from  pain  or  grossness  or 
misery. 

*  * 

I  am  that  path  which  is  ever  before  thee, 
filled  with  rarest  flowers  and  creeping  vines 
and  world-large  happiness  where  the  beings 
which  thou  canst  feel,  but  not  yet  see,  beckon 

195 


thee  ever  and  where  thou  too  shalt  come  and 
be  of  the  brightest  among  them. 

*  * 

I  am  that  most  golden  star  that  lights  thy 
heaven  and  throws  forever  into  thy  awakening 
consciousness  the  glow  of  its  scintillation. 

*  * 

I  am  that  fleeciest  cloud  of  down  that  sur- 
rounds thee  ever  and  keeps  thee  from  hurt- 
ing thy  sweet  self  on  the  stones  and  hard  clay 
of  the  world.  I  am  that  Being  of  Life,  of 
Truth,  of  Wisdom,  of  Love,  of  Beauty,  of  Joy, 
of  Life,  of  Plenty  that  hovers  ever  about  thee 
and  sings  to  thy  soul. 

*  * 

Come,  My  own,  come  with  Me  and  I  will 
show  thee  life,  which  now  thou  knowest  but  in 
its  littleness !  Come,  I  sing  and  you  dip  in  the 
Ocean  of  Bliss  with  Me.  Nay,  run  not  before 
but  calmly  walk  at  My  side. 

*  * 

See  yonder!  It  glistens  and  shimmers,  a 
sheet  of  joy  and  bliss,  that  knoweth  not  a  rip- 
ple nor  a  wave,  but  lieth  with  arms  out- 

196 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

stretched  to  receive  thee  there.  Faint  not  nor 
swoon  but  creep  into  its  arms  and  lie  there, 
reaching  out  thine  arms  and  spreading  the 
wings  of  thy  soul  and  dip  deep  and  drink 
thy  fill.  Now  come  and  take  thy  bathed  self 
among  thy  sisters  and  brothers  and  give  to 
them  but  a  drop  of  that  Ocean  of  Love,  which 
thou  hast  brought  on  the  wings  of  thy  soul. 
And  each  day,  my  Adarini !  thou  shalt  dip  and 
drink  and  give,  thou  shalt  shake  from  thy 
plumed  wings,  which  shall  grow  unto  enor- 
mous bigness,  the  drops  of  love  which  it  is 
wetted  withal  and  the  heart-hungry  shall  come 
and  receive  therefrom  great  blessings  and 
great  aid  and  shall  go  away  strengthened  in 
soul  and  strong  of  body,  because  of  the  drop 
that  has  come  from  the  ocean  of  love  and  which 
thou  hast  brought  to  them  on  thy  ever-grow- 
ing wings. 

*  * 

Even  now  doth  the  incense  of  warm  love 
envelop  thee  and  thy  heart  is  expanded  to  the 
spanning  of  the  sea. 

*  * 

Question  not,  but  believe  in  Me  and  Mine. 
197 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

Come  to  Me  again  and  I  will  fill  thee  witK 
Bliss. 

*     * 

Greeting  to  thee,  My  jewel !  Dost  thou  know 
that  I  am  even  nearer  unto  thee  now?  Dost 
thou  feel  the  wings  of  thought  spreading  to 
great  breadth  all  within  and  without  thee? 
Dost  thou  again  feel  the  immensity  of  My 
Love  that  passeth  all  that  is?  Dost  thou  feel 
that  this  Love  is  too  great  for  the  world  to 
hold,  yet  know  that  thy  heart  is  big  enough 
to  contain  it?  Dost  thou  know  that  the  love 
which  is  this  that  now  brings  the  bowl  of  blue 
near  to  the  breast  of  earth  is  the  same  love 
that  causes  the  cooing  dove  to  hide  its  gray 
head  under  its  wing  at  the  approaching  home- 
ward flight  of  its  little  mate,  all  unafraid  and 
undisturbed,  because  of  its  near  protection? 
Dost  thou  not  know  it  is  the  same  love  that 
causes  the  mother  to  bare  her  warm,  loving 
breast  to  the  blade  to  save  even  the  little 
moment  of  pain  to  that  being  which  hath 
grown  into  a  child  under  her  breast?  Dost 
thou  not  know  it  is  that  love  which  causes 
noble  manhood  to  stalk  forth  armed  and 

198 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

bloodthirsty  to  protect  the  altar  whereon  he 
hath  burned  the  incense  of  faith  and  belief? 
Dost  thou  not  know  that  it  is  the  same  love 
which  causes  the  lioness  to  throw  her  huge, 
warm  body  upon  her  cub  to  crush  it  rather 
than  it  should  be  cast  into  iron  captivity  by 
its  pursuers?  Dost  thou  not  know  again  that 
it  is  this  love  that  hovers  in  golden  silence 
about  thee  even  when  thou  wilt  not  see  and 
beckons  thee  ever,  even  when  thou  wilt  not 
follow?  It  is  the  same  love  that  leads  thee 
over  the  paths  of  flint  and  hard  and  rough 
roads  unto  those  that  are  smiling  and  per- 
fumed and  ever  bordered  with  blooming 
flowers  of  purple  and  milk  and  rose.  Dost 
thou  not  know,  my  Adarini,  that  it  is  that  love 
that  points  out  the  gems  that  lie  in  thy  path, 
partly  covered,  partly  hidden  by  the  dust, 
while  thy  feet  have  kicked  over  them?  Even 
though  I  have  pointed  them  out  to  thee  often, 
thou  dost  not  see.  Thou  but  lookest  to  the 
right  and  left  for  things  of  beauty  which  are 
for  the  eye,  but  for  the  moment,  and  dost 
pass  the  rare  jewels  which  if  thou  wouldst 
but  take  into  thy  heart,  would  bring  there  the 

199 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

richest   radiance   which   ever   came   from   the 
diadem  that  crowns  a  soul. 


It  is  this  love  that  whispers  to  thee  that  the 
path  to  Me  is  not  hard  to  tread.  It  is  this 
love  that  holds  the  garments  white  as  wool 
and  light  as  air  and  beautiful  with  the  beauty 
of  My  love  for  thee  ever  before  thine  eye,  even 
when  thou  dost  in  thy  little  understanding  with 
the  back  of  thy  palm  thrust  it  aside.  The  gar- 
ment that  I  hold  for  thee  is  the  robe  that  thou 
must  wear  even  to  enter  the  Heart  of  My  Heart 
to  step  within  the  flame  of  My  light.  Fear  not 
it  burneth  not,  neither  doth  it  scorch  or  blister  ; 
it  doth  but  light  thee  with  a  fire  that  is  the 
glowing  of  holiness  and  when  thou  hast  come 
writhin  that  radiance  then  will  the  choir  within 
the  throat  of  the  lark  be  like  the  sheet  of 
clean  white  paper  to  thee  and  thou  thyself  will 
make  their  notes  for  singing.  And  also  thou 
shalt  hear  and  even  understand  the  pleadings 
that  lie  hidden  and  covered  by  the  piteous 
cries  and  wailings  that  issue  from  the  breast 
of  the  good  beast-creatures  that  speed  over  the 

200 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

tracks  of  sandland  with  the  swiftness  of  the 

Eastern    winds,   bearing   on  huge   backs    the 

burden  too  weighty  for  man  to  bear. 

*  * 

And  listen  again,  My  suckling,  thou  shalt, 
when  once  thou  hast  entered  into  My  Heart  of 
hearts  clad  in  the  beauty  and  purity  of  the 
garments  which  I  hold  before  thee  even  now, 
then  shalt  thou  gather  in  thine  arms  the 
prayers  of  many  hearts  and  fulfilled  even  unto 
wondrous  fulness  thou  shalt  return  them  again 
unto  the  empty  hearts.  For  by  the  fire  through 
which  thou  hast  learned  holiness  and  because 
of  the  garments  that  come  from  My  hand  thou 
shalt  say  unto  My  little  ones  that  I,  who  am 
the  All  in  All,  am  the  fulfillment  of  each  desire 
that  has  ever  found  growth  in  human  hearts. 

*  * 

Thou  shalt  say  unto  them  that  simple  and 
clear,  even  like  the  smile  that  lurketh  in  the 
soft  eye  of  a  milk-feeding  babe,  are  the  laws 
of  My  Love-Eye  and  easy  to  grasp  and  smooth 
to  hold  and  light  to  carry.  And  because  of 
the  saying  of  thine,  the  prattle  of  the  forward 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

mouth  shall  silence  and  the  way-giving  of  the 
idle  tongue  shall  cease  and  the  squirting  of 
venom  shall  be  no  more.  And  lo,  the  lust  of 
gossip  and  rankness  and  rough  spoil  of  envy 
shall  be  as  naught!  And  clear,  like  unto  the 
water  that  catches  in  its  heart  the  reflection 
of  the  moon  and  holdeth  it  completely  so,  even 
so  shall  the  centre  of  thine  eye  become  and  thy 
brow  shall  shine  My  wisdom  and  thy  mouth 
shall  hold  My  words,  thy  feet  shall  bear  wit- 
ness to  My  beauty  and  thine  heart  shall  ever 
be  sportive  as  the  lambkin  that  kicketh  and 
playeth  and  knoweth  not  why,  or  even  like 
unto  the  open-lipped  baby,  who  turneth  its 
milk-filled,  dripping  mouth  away  from  the 
breast  to  croon  and  play  with  its  fingers  and 
toes.  And  like  unto  the  mother  that  kisseth 
the  babe  for  that  playing,  so  shall  My  little 
ones  steal  joy  from  thy  love. 

*     * 

List!  Because  thou  art  now  in  the  arms  of 
Love  I  shall  make  for  thee  a  grove  of  palms 
and  olive,  bread  and  date,  and  where  thou  art, 
even  in  the  city  of  strife  and  turmoil  ard  sin, 

302 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

yet  thou  shalt  walk  even  in  the  groves,  that  I 
have  made  for  thee.  And  thou  shalt  hear  the 
plaintive  call  of  the  night  bird  and  the  heart- 
song  of  the  winged  creatures,  whose  hearts 
burst  with  love  and  joy  in  their  caroling. 

*  * 

And  the  fruit  which  the  trees  of  great  bear- 
ing shall  yield  thee,  shall  fill  thee  with  satis- 
faction, thy  hunger  shall  be  stilled  by  their 
richness  and  thy  thirst  shall  be  slaked  by  their 
lusciousness,  and  lo,  thou  shalt  contemplate 
the  beauty  and  wonder  of  Me  in  the  grove 
where  I  have  placed  thee  and  thy  heart  shall 
be  calmed  unto  marvelous  peace  and  many 
times  thou  shalt  faint,  because  of  the  sweet- 
ness of  that  peace. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo,  he  who  carrieth  in  his 
heart  and  findeth  Me  in  all  that  surroundetli 
him ;  he  has  for  his  surrounding  My  Abode  and 
knoweth  it  as  such.  He  needeth  not  a  ground 
of  tree  or  grass  and  flower  to  find  a  roebuck, 
but  findeth  it  even  at  his  side.  He  striveth  not 
to  gain  possession  of  that  which  is  far  from 

303 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

his  hand  for  he  knoweth  the  rich  mines  with 
nuggets  of  gold  are  his  for  the  taking.  He 
findeth  not  solitude  worse  than  death,  nor  is 
it  amiss  for  him  to  breathe  away  from  the 
crowd  of  men,  for  at  his  side  are  the  voices 
of  love  that  are  loud  even  like  the  thunder  or 
the  roaring  of  the  lion,  or  the  screech  of  an 
eaglet.  This  shall  ever  be  thine  blessing,  my 
son,  and  a  shield  of  love  shall  cover  thee  and 
thy  feet  shall  be  swift  and  thou  shalt  walk 
even  light  like  unto  the  wind.  Let  not  the 
burden  of  the  world  and  the  world's  prattle 
come  to  thine  ear  and  lie  even  heavy  on  thine 
heart,  for  in  the  palm  of  my  hand  thou  shalt 
rest  and  like  a  bird  who  has  lately  become  a 
mother  and  feeds  her  birdlets,  so  shall  I  feed 
thee,  my  son. 

*  * 

Glory  to  Gooroo,  who  among  men  doth 
know  Me  and  Me  see  in  all  things. 

*  * 

O  ye  my  children  that  fret  and  squirm  un- 
derneath the  load  and  scratches  of  life!  Do 
ye  give  it  unto  Him  who  by  his  wondrous 

304 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

love  for  all  knoweth  not  weight  nor  pain. 
That  which  to  you  a  burdensome  plight  hath 
become,  is  light  even  unto  down  to  Me.  The 
blight  has  been  of  thine  own  making,  O  child 
of  my  heart ! 

*     * 

Oh!  know  ye  not  that  I  carry  in  the  palm 
of  my  hand,  in  the  Heart  of  my  Heart,  all  man- 
kind— nay,  all  worldkind?  Will  ye  not  know 
that  all  I  have  created  is  even  like  unto  Me 
perfect  and  cannot  be  burdensome? 


Ye  will  not  look  upon  Me  as  the  pedestal 
upon  which  all  things  that  are,  are  founded. 
And  because  of  your  blindness,  for  blind  ye 
are,  having  eyes  ye  see  not  what  I  have  given 
ye  to  see — because  of  your  blindness,  small 
are  your  hearts  and  cramped  and  will  not  ex- 
pand in  height  and  breadth,  even  to  know  the 
peace  that  dwells  in  My  clear  silence,  nor  the 
illumination  that  lives  on  My  horizon.  Nor 
will  ye  hear  the  joy  of  My  greeting  of  wisdom 
that  would  sing  to  your  souls  of  a  love  that 

205 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

withereth  not,  neither  fadeth  away,  neither  be- 
cometh  ashes  nor  crumbleth  to  pieces. 

*  * 

List,  O  my  children !  Dear  unto  My  heart 
ye  are,  even  as  the  ewe  lamb,  in  its  wayward- 
ness and  helplessness,  is  dear  to  the  heart  of 
the  tried  and  tender  shepherd,  or  the  babe,  My 
gift  of  first  love,  is  dear  to  the  eager  heart  of 
the  prayerful  father.  Yet  oft  doth  the  ewe 
lamb  bleating  stray  away  from  the  arm  of  trie 
shepherd  and  the  truant,  rosy  mouth  of  the 
babe  turns  away  from  the  breast  of  the  eager 
young  mother  to  cry  afar  to  the  yonder  world 
that  heareth  it  not,  nor  answereth  it. 

*  * 

So  ye,  My  little  ones,  see  not  the  light  on 
your  way,  nor  partake  of  the  bread  of  life  that 
I  scatter  to  you,  even  as  the  waving  yellow 
tree  of  mustard  doth  scatter  its  seed  in  golden 
profusion  on  the  fertile  regions  around  it. 

*  * 

Hark,  one  and  all !  All  careless  have  you 
been  in  the  weeding  of  your  gardens,  for  in 
your  beds  I  find  the  thistle  thriving;  in  your 

206 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

vineyards  the  grape  I  find  that  is  hard  and 

sour  and  bitter. 

*  * 

Oh,  alas  for  you  who  cast  your  net  for  fish 
and  bring  forth  the  slimy  reptile !  Beware,  my 
child,  lest  the  best  hopes  of  life  cannot  stir 
away  from  harmful  ones.  Evil  stalketh  idly,  of 
nothing  it  is  born,  yet  would  it  squirm,  like  the 
insect,  and  buzz  its  cloud  about  thine  ear,  and 
mote-like  obscure  thy  sight,  and  throng 
through  thy  mind  and  heart  even  leaving  its 
imagery  there. 

*  * 

O  My  children !  I  have  placed  you  in  a  dewy 
field,  where  like  young  lambkins  you  might 
disport  yourselves.  I  have  bounded  your  dewy 
field  with  heather-purpled  hills,  where  like  the 
young  eagle  and  the  hawk  you  might  soar 
and  spread  your  wings  and  flap  them  to  the 
music  and  measure  and  time  of  My  winds, 
which  I  hold  from  everlasting  to  everlasting 
even  in  Mine  own  hand.  But,  alas!  like  the 
lily  that  from  overmuch  dew  falleth  face  down- 
ward in  the  dirt,  so  many  of  you  turn  your 
hearts  earthwise. 

207 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

Hungering  to  be  caught  by  Me  and  to  know 
the  beauty  of  My  Being,  because  you  see  and 
will  not  understand — even  because  of  that  I 
rebuke  you  in  love,  in  love  I  rebuke  you :  Nor 
will  I  come  again  to  those  who  call,  unless  in 
holiness  the  call  will  bring  profit  from  My 
words. 

*  * 

O  thou  My  Beloved  one!  Thou  who  like 
saint  and  sage  and  prophet  of  old  has  touched 
the  harp  of  life  that  I  attune  for  thee,  do  thou 
come  to  Me  singly  and  do  thou  say  unto  those 
that  My  promise  is  this :  "Dear  to  Me  are  ye, 
My  children.  List  to  the  promise  I  give  unto 
you !  To  those  who  seek  Me  in  holy  earnest- 
ness, to  those  do  I  come  even  like  the  sweet 
influence  of  young  Spring.  Like  unto  a  giant 
am  I  in  gentleness,  yet  none  can  wrestle  with 
My  Love.  Know,  ye  shall  know  My  coming 
even  by  the  spontaneous  growth  that  shall 
spring  about  your  feet,  and  become  even  fruit- 
bearing  trees  at  My  command." 

*  it 

To  the  barren  woman  I  shall  look  into  her 

208 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

eye,  and  lo!  the  gush  of  young  motherhood 
shall  she  feel.  When  My  Love  is  yours,  then 
shall  the  leopard  take  between  his  forepaws 
even  the  young  sheep,  and  that  rough  and  long 
tongue  shall  rub  it  between  the  eyes. 
*  * 

Into  the  eye  of  the  ascetic  I  shall  look,  he 
who  for  many  moons  hath  stood  in  cold 
silence,  even  he  shall  feel  his  heart  reel  with 
love  like  unto  the  young  bridegroom. 


Dulness  shall  glow.  Thy  slow  tongue,  my 
child,  shall  become  eloquent.  Idleness  shall 
become  active,  even  bereavement  shall  be  con- 
soled and  despair  shall  flee  at  My  coming. 

*     * 

Am  I  not  the  magician  of  all  time,  who  by 
the  spell  of  My  love  do  charm  a  waiting,  pas- 
sive, alas  ! — a  blinded  world  ?  Aye,  even  tfiy 
heart  of  hearts  shall  be  laid  bare  and  those 
who  seek  shall  come  and  feed  of  the  peace 
thereof.  Lo,  on  the  hilltop  for  thee  my  sun 
spreads  cheer ! 

209 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

Be  thou  he,  who  shall  invest  in  courage, 
climbing"  the  rocky  hill,  where  thou  shalt  em- 
brace cheer  and  she  shall  bring  forth  the  baby, 
that  is  thy  desire,  and  because  of  the  baby 
which  thou  boldest  in  thy  arms,  because  of 
that  thy  path  shall  be  light,  for  lo !  the  babe  is 
what  men  call  success. 

*  * 

O  My  young  son !  Do  thou  take  to  the 
young  thy  onward  march,  even  thy  sunlight, 
which  I  for  thee  have  created,  so  that  thou 
mayest  make  the  poisonous  and  damp  vapors, 
which  will  surround  thee,  even  of  great 
warmth  and  of  fragrance  and  golden  hue. 
Take  thou  the  Seed  of  My  Name  on  thy  lips, 
aye,  and  the  tree  of  thy  affection  shall  bend  its 
every  leaf  to  look  in  Mine  Eye,  and  there  shall 
behold  the  gladness  and  hope  of  My  life. 
There  shalt  thou  read  thy  Beatitude. 

*  * 

Do  not  allow  the  phantom  fears  crowd  into 
thy  heart  and  make  a  layer  of  darkness  in 
thy  heart,  even  as  the  water  doth  drop  its 
heaviness  into  the  bottom  of  a  vessel  and  le^ve 

210 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

its  heaviness  there,  for,  if  thou  dost,  then  will 
the  waters  of  cleanness  that  fill  thy  heart  by 
the  least  ripple  stir  up  the  heaviness  and  rust 
that  hath  sunk  to  the  bottom  and  so  color  even 
that  which  was  clear.  Naught  is  there  in  thee 
to  bring1  shadow  of  that  which  is  gruesome  to 
thee,  My  child,  for  when  thou  comest  to  Me 
there  have  I  buried  deep  that  which  might 
have  caused  thee  fear.  List !  do  thou  even  let 
the  desires  of  thy  heart  lie  dormant  and  do 
thou  even  seek  My  Love  in  this  hour.  Then 
thou  shalt  know  the  fatness  of  My  love  and 
when  thou  dost,  then  will  the  soul  thou  cravest 
to  turn  toward  thee  in  the  splendour  of  light 
beam  full  upon  thee,  even  as  thou  wouldst 
have  it.  Love,  My  own,  the  working  of  My 
love,  is  not  always  the  working  of  that  which 
thou  canst  only  see  a  little  way — for  far  even 
unto  eternity  do  I  look  and  the  links  I  rivet 
now  are  even  the  chain  that  stretches  to  the 
end  of  time  everlasting.  Therefore  do  thou 
not  look  only  to  the  feet  ahead  of  thee,  but  do 
thou  find  that  in  the  time  and  place  of  my 
action  there  alone  perfection  is — yea,  even 
there  perfection  is  which  to  thee  may  seem 

211 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

even  unfinished,  but  to  My  Eye  it  is  the  whole 

complete. 

*  * 

Out  of  the  tumult  of  thy  heart,  out  of  the 
chaos  of  thy  mind,  out  of  the  depth  of  thy  un- 
derstanding thou  dost  call  unto  Me  for  rest  and 
thus  do  I  answer  thee,  My  little  one ! 

*  * 

Seek  not  rest  in  the  plane  where  the  earthly 
gives  birth  to  thoughts  and  loves,  for  if  thou 
dost,  thou  shalt  but  be  dragged  through  the 
rough  wilderness  of  life,  which  is  not  of  Me. 
Whenever  thou  dost  feel  thy  feet  tangled  in  the 
interlaced  roots  of  life,  know  thou  hast  strayed 
a  little  from  the  path  whereon  I  beckon  thee, 
for  I  have  placed  thee  in  broad,  smooth  paths, 
which  are  flower-strewn  and  perfumed  with 
sweet  smelling  vines  and  also  have  put  before 
thee  a  light,  which  thou  canst  ever  follow  and 
thus  run  without  stumbling. 

*  * 

Hear  thou  this !    The  bliss  of  action  I  have 
planted  in  thy  spirit  and  if  for  a  span  thy  soul 
hath  grown  weary  and  thou  longest  to  fold  thy 
212 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

tired  wings  and  sleep  awhile  on  the  Island  of 
White  Silence,  that  dwells  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  ocean  of  existence,  if  that  thou  wouldst 
do— call  upon  Me  and  with  My  smile  that 
which  is  unlike  Me,  shall  drop  from  thy  soul, 
as  the  old  garment  falleth  from  the  butterfly, 
when  its  wings  are  strong  to  cleave  the  air. 
And  after  a  sufficient  slumber  thou  shalt  be 
quickened  with  deathless  energy  and  shalt 
speed  in  eagle  swiftness  even  to  the  sun,  which 
is  the  burning  of  the  love  in  My  Eye.  But, 
list,  my  jewel!  Be  not  confounded  by  the 
shaking  of  thy  timid  heart,  nor  yet  by  the 
yelling  grisly  shapes,  that  seem  full  of 
dread,  hunting  at  thy  back,  nor  be  allured  by 
bright  phantoms  of  false  joys  beckoning  thee 
ceaselessly.  Like  swarms  of  gnats  about  a 
dark  and  sullen  river,  they  crowd  about  the 
heart  that  harbours  thoughts  of  fear  and  lo, 
their  stings  do  itch  and  burn  and  swell  and 
bring  fever  to  the  blood  and  bitterness  to  the 
taste  and  even  death  to  the  joy  that  dwelleth 
in  the  heart.  Lo,  My  child,  hast  thou  not  spied 
the  serpent  in  the  closed,  tight  bud  of  the  rose 
or  even  in  the  hollow  of  the  rosy  fruit?  Eye 
213 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

saw  it  not,  but  the  rose  became  even  as  rust 
and  the  apple  rotten.  So  beware  that  an  adder 
rest  not  in  the  bud  of  the  heart  and  that  adder 
fear  be  opposed  to  hope  which  I  have  placed  in 
goodly  share  upon  thy  brow. 

*  * 

List,  My  own,  and  abide  by  My  song  that 
unto  thy  soul  I  sing:  Bliss  is  the  perpetual 
motion  of  Love.  As  a  running  stream  it  is  that 
cometh  from  an  inexhaustible  source,  the  depth 
of  which  is  even  unmeasurable. 

*  * 

To  the  unknowing  and  unloving  the  surface 
in  unruffled,  but  he  that  seeth  underneath,  he 
findeth  there  current  'neath  current,  whirl- 
pool within  whirlpool  and  depth  beneath  depth 
and  the  sum  of  it  all  is  Love,  which  is  Life  and 
coupled  together  by  the  links  of  Bliss. 

*  * 

I  have  a  shore  that  is  called  the  Island  of 
Rest,  here  do  the  souls  of  many  hold  sabbath. 
They  lie  in  tranquil  slumber  for  a  little,  much 
have  they  to  tell,  but  they  fear  to  break  the 
tranquility  of  their  calm.  Here  their  dwelling 

814 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

is  illumined  with  glory.  The  melody  of  sweet 
peace  bathes  their  soul ;  the  mystery  of  their 
being  is  revealed  unto  them.  For  a  little  here 
they  wait  but  still  this  home  is  but  a  transient 
resting  place  between  earth  and  Me.  Rest  can 
be  thine,  my  own,  in  slumber  of  ecstasy,  but 
Bliss  can  be  thine  through  the  perpetual  action 
of  Love.  Which  wouldst  thou  have  ? 

Come  to  Me  again  and  I  will  even  sing  to 
thy  soul  of  my  Love. 

*     * 

Glory  to  Gooroo,  he  who  seeketh  Me  and 
findeth  Me,  the  ever  refreshing,  even  in  the 
desert  of  sand  and  a  day  of  drought !  Greeting 
to  thee,  My  son,  for  I  say  unto  thee,  thou  art 
a  grateful  twig  on  the  bay-tree  of  life.  And 
because  of  My  love  for  thee  I  have  bestowed 
upon  thee  the  greatest  gift  of  my  hand:  A 
largeness  worthy  of  my  devotee  shall  be  yours 
that  the  flattering  tongue  can  but  in  feeble- 
ness express  because  of  its  vastness.  And  this 
vastness  of  purpose  shall  be  like  unto  un- 
counted autumn  leaves  that  number  millions 
upon  millions  and  like  unto  the  masses  of 

215 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

clouds  that  pile  in  mountains  upon  worlds  and 
the  seas  that  cover  unlimited  space  and  the 
numberless  stars  multiplied  by  worlds  of  fire. 
Thus  measureless  and  incomparable  shall  be 
My  gift  unto  thee  for  thou  hast  found  Me  and 
held  Me  even  close  to  thee  and  because  of  it, 

the  river  of  joy  shall  flow  within  thee  forever. 

*  * 

My  thumb  I  have  placed  upon  you,  so  that 
free-footed  you  may  stand  in  the  lightning  of 
My  Eye,  whose  brilliant  fire  doth  even  gladden 
all  communion  with  time  and  doth  bid  the  stars 
to  smile  and  darkness  to  flee  for  ever,  for  when 
My  Beautiful  Necessity,  Love,  is  once  un- 
covered, there  is  the  veil  behind  veil  lifted 
forever  and  even  the  Centre  of  All  Worlds  are 
visible  to  the  naked  eye,  for  he  who  hath  clad 
himself  in  the  garment  of  My  Love,  he  even 
pierceth  through  all  covering. 

Thus  hath  My  Love  blessed  thee,  My  Be- 
loved. 

*  * 

O  prisoner  of  earthly  life !  Take  thou  cheer 
and  courage  unto  thyself,  for  much  is  there 
that  is  of  rare  comfort  to  the  spirit.  Thrust 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

not  thyself  into  the  pit  of  earth  and  labor  there 
and  seek  to  carry  on  thy  shoulder  and  on  thy 
back  the  burdens  that  are  born  of  the  clay  and 
therefore  hurtful  and  of  much  weight.  But  do 
thou  step  out  and  bask  in  the  glow  of  the  sun, 
do  thou  stretch  forth  thy  limbs  in  languid  and 
truant  ease  and  let  its  warmth  play  on  the 
white  of  thy  flesh  so  that  even  the  health  of  thy 
blood  may  bubble  to  the  surface. 

*  # 

Do  thou  fix  thine  eyes  on  the  dome  where 
stars  are  fixed,  though  they  are  paled  by  the 
garish  sun  and  hence  dim ;  yet  rear  thy  heart 
starward  and  in  the  course  of  the  sun  see  the 
greatness  of  ways  and  tracks  that  are  thine, 
My  jewel !  Do  thou  even  now  burst  asunder 
the  fetters  that  rivetest  thee  even  to  the  plank 
of  anxiety  and  with  a  bound  throw  from  thee 
the  shackles  and  walk  thy  star-ward  path  as  a 
tenant  of  earth  in  the  way  to  finding  a  better 

abode. 

*  * 

About  thee  lies  the  good  that  cometh  from 
My  strong  right  arm.    Hold  it,  that  its  counte- 
nance may  remain   with  thee   forever.     Yea, 
217 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

seek  not  for  a  change  of  thy  good  for  that 
which  is  better,  but  hug  rather  the  present 
good  to  thy  heart  of  heart  that  its  strength  may 
impart  even  strength  where  thy  weakness 
abideth.  The  load  which  I  have  placed  upon 
thy  shoulder  is  not  to  thee  a  load  earth-made, 
'tis  but  a  gathering  of  rare  herbage  piped  with 
beautiful  coloring  which  is  full  of  healing  and 
sweet  of  taste,  but  which  you  all,  blinded,  do 
see  as  burdensome. 

If  thou  but  onward  marchest,  looking  not  at 
the  phantom  spies  that  seek  to  distract  thee  in 
thy  going  and  lurk  in  the  clearness  of  thy  light, 
then  shalt  thou  add  wings  unto  them  and  they 
shall  flee  even  as  doth  the  young  chick  before 
the  hawk's  approach.  Let  thy  bold  front  even 
by  its  courage  chase  forever  the  foes  of  man, 
stern  unbelief  and  dull  distrust,  which  are 
ever  eager  to  find  lodging  in  the  heart  where  a 
canopy  of  white  trust  doth  shelter  the  babe  of 
Love  that  reclineth  in  playful  happiness  on  a 
rosy  couch  of  hope.  Even  there  would  the 
enemy  of  man  steal  and  take  from  the  garden 
of  his  soul  the  flowers  that  blossom  in  rare 
loveliness,  the  beauty  that  hideth  in  sweet 
218 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

silence,  the  peace  that  casteth  its  halo  of  calm 
over  the  spirit  even  as  a  wild  dove. 

*     * 
A  SOUL  AND  ITS  BELOVED. 

A  soul  was  all  tired  unto  death  because  love, 
which  once  glowed  warm  and  red,  had  turned 
toward  a  face  fairer  and  brighter  than  the  one 
which  encased  it. 

Long  it  dwelt  upon  that  departure,  until  the 
time  had  come  when  it  was  all  ready  to  leave 
the  earth ;  but  there  was  the  beloved  soul, 
which  had  gone  from  the  right  path. 

While  contemplating  on  the  possible  way  of 
calling  unto  itself  the  beloved  soul  that  had 
gone  astray  in  its  blindness,  Death  stood  be- 
fore it  and  called  it  to  make  ready  for  a  long 
journey  beyond  the  boundaries  which  it  now 
knew. 

Glad  and  willing  the  soul  responded ;  but, 
casting  its  eyes  behind  for  one  moment,  it  be- 
held its  beloved  mate,  walking  in  the  mire,  in 
its  search  after  the  will-o'-the-wisp  for  which 
it  had  left  its  home,  and  the  soul  was  grieved 
sorely  unto  death.  One  step  backward  it  made ; 

219 


but  Death  detained  it,  saying:  "This  way, 
sweet  soul,  you  go  wrong.  See  that  golden 
path?  There  await  you  those  who  want  you 
to  be  with  them  in  parts  beautiful  and  wonder- 
ful beyond  that  which  you  remember." 

"Oh!"  spake  the  soul,  "What  of  her— my 
beloved?  Where  goes  she?" 

"Alone  the  path  she  now  treads  she  has 
chosen,  and  it  is  not  in  your  power  to  draw 
her  back  one  inch  from  that  chosen  path !" 

"But,  O  Death !"  quoth  the  soul,  "the  way 
before  her  is  black  and  full  of  reptiles  and  evil 
creeping  things,  and  she  was  so  tender  and 
beautiful.  May  I  not  change  places  with  her. 
and  will  you  not  take  her  and  leave  me?" 

"It  is  not  so  written,"  quoth  Death.  "Each 
soul  chooses  its  own  path  and  she  has  choser 
hers." 

"When,  O  Death!  will  she  come  to  where 
you  lead  me?" 

"It  is  written,  not  for  many  aeons." 

"How  can  I  draw  her  to  me  to  turn  her 
from  her  dark  way  to  myself?" 

"It  is  written  that  one  soul  may  draw 
another  after  it,  if  for  many  births  it  is  will- 
220 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

ing  to  wait  at  the  door  of  death  for  all  souls 
to  pass.  See,  here  it  is  where  these  wailing, 
fainting,  quivering  ones  suffer  agonies,  greater 
than  you  have  ever  dreamed  of  in  the  many 
walks  of  your  earthly  or  space  life." 

A  moment  the  soul  gazed  on  the  suffering 
ones ;  and  as  it  looked  it  grew  cold  and  pinched, 
as  if  another  death  had  come  upon  it.  "I  will 
wait,"  it  said.  "Joy  it  will  be  to  me  to  wait 
for  aeons  until  she  whom  I  love  will  pass  tKis 
way !" 

"Oh !"  cried  Death,  "it  was  said  among  the 
unseen  ones  who  throng  space  that  you  were 
thus.  See,  the  pang  of  pain  which  you  In 
agony  bore  has  forced  your  beloved  to  turn  and 
gaze  towards  you.  She  leaves  her  path  of  mud 
and  darkness  and  hurries  after  you.  Come  on, 
both  of  you,  and  walk  the  path  of  gold  that  is 
thronged  with  such  as  you,  the  saviour  and  the 
saved.  Surely  in  one  moment  of  such  love 
you  have  unfettered  the  bonds  which  bound 
yourself  and  your  beloved  to  all  that  was  of 
earth." 

And  they  passed  into  the  way  that  led  to 
the  higher  place. 

221 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

THE  FAIR  ONE  AND  HER  SOUL. 
The  world  had  grown  gray,  the  golden 
stars  had  fled  from  the  skies,  and  a  silence  deep 
yawned  at  the  feet  of  one  who,  all  hungry  for 
that  which  she  knew  not  and  starved  for  that 
which  she  could  not  name,  moaned  :  "O  Soul ! 
why  am  I  tortured  thus?  Why  dost  thou  lead 
me  into  paths  I  cannot  walk,  and  dfag  me  into 
depths  that  I  fear,  and  scale  with  me  heights 
whose  atmosphere  so  rare  and  high  is,  that 
faint  I  grow  and  ill  unto  perishing  therein. 
What  is  the  quest  of  thine  ?  This  struggle  and 
this  reaching  after  that  which  I  cannot  see  or 
feel?  Weak  is  my  flesh,  though  thou,  dear  Soul, 
art  strong.  It  is  ever  easier  for  me  to  fall  than 
to  rise.  I  struggle  to  keep  on  with  thee,  but 
ever  and  anon  thou  monntest  to  planes  where 
my  tired  and  clumsy  feet  cannot  follow  thee. 
Ofttimes  have  I  called  unto  thee  and  implored 
thee  to  cease  the  quest,  to  rest  awhile,  to  sleep. 
Thou  hast  heard  my  moan  now  and  again  and 
I  ran  laughing  into  the  garden  that  awaited 
me.  But  when  I  stood  among  the  blood-red 
roses  and  white-cupped  lilies  and  sought  to 
pluck  the  pretty  blossoms,  ever  in  the  heart  a 
222 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

worm  did  lurk.  So  farther  I  ran  to  where  the 
fruits  hung  high.  But  when  on  tip-toe  I  stood 
to  reach  the  luscious  ripe  ones  that  beckoned 
me,  lo !  again  the  over  softness  of  decay  did 
break  upon  my  gaze,  and  I  wanted  them  not. 
Then  I  made  to  climb  some  steep  hill  whereon 
the  clouds  did  seem  to  rest,  and  as  I  ascended, 
the  clouds  did  fade  farther  from  me,  and  I 
stood  with  only  the  cold  gray  mist  about  me, 
chilled  and  frightened,  like  a  child  lost  from 
its  mother's  side. 

"And  so  it  was,  O  Soul,  the  pleasures  which 
the  earth  placed  at  my  feet  palled  upon  me  and 
dragged  me  down  nigh  unto  the  grave.  Then 
I  nestled  to  thee,  my  beloved  Soul,  and  called 
thee  to  save  and  direct  me,  and  pleaded  to  thee 
to  save  me  from  this  fleshly  self  that  keeps 
me  earth-bound.  Then  thou  wouldst  take  my 
hand  and  with  me  soar  to  mountain-heights, 
and  we  with  outstretched  wings  would  view 
the  rosy  glow  that  the  departing  sun  did  cast 
about  us  as  it  waved  its  grand  adieu  to  the 
world  we  knew.  Thus  we  stood,  I  trembling 
with  gladness,  thou  thrilling  with  joy,  but,  O 
Soul,  my  poor  fleshly  self  could  not  long  abide 
223 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

such  ecstasy  nor  drink  the  rarefied  wine  which 
the  Heavens  vouchsafed  us,  and  crying  I  clung 
to  thee  and  dragged  thee  down,  down,  until 
both  again  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  heights 
where  lately  we  had  spied  the  door  that  leads 
to  broader  worlds.  Thou,  my  beloved,  hadst 
folded  thy  widespread  wings,  and  thy  feet 
were  planted  in  the  dank  grasses  whose  roots 
were  deep  in  mire.  O  tell  me,  thou  whose 
awakening  is  so  beautiful  and  whose  stature 
is  full  of  grace,  tell  me,  O  Soul,  why,  though 
coupled  together,  are  we  yet  divided;  why, 
though  one,  are  we  yet  two?" 

The  Soul  made  answer  meet :  "O  companion 
of  my  earthly  Self's  encasement  of  soft  flesh, 
I  love  thee  even  as  thou  lovest  me,  and  I  do 
draw  thee  upward,  even  as  thou  dost  drag  me 
down.  Dost  thou  not  know  that  from  earth 
thou  hast  come,  hence  to  earth  must  go  again ; 
that  thy  natural  tendencies  are  downward  even 
unto  the  earth  from  which  thou  didst  spring? 
Yet  dost  thou  love  that  in  me  which  soars  even 
upward  to  the  home  from  whence  I  came.  A 
ray  of  eternal  light  am  I,  a  glow  of  the  warm 
heart  of  Love,  a  spark  of  the  central  flame; 

224 


FROM  SREE  KRISHNA. 

hence  must  I  ever  strive  to  reach  that  perfect 
sphere  from  whence  I  came,  more  beautiful 
and  entrancing  than  thou  canst  know,  nor 
can  I  anchored  be  until  once  again  that  safe 
haven  I  reach  wherefrom  I  lately  came.  Yet, 
list!  sweet  partner  of  my  earthly  pilgrimage, 
dost  know  why  thou  lovest  me,  even  though 
hither  and  thither  I  draw  thee  ?  Tis  that  I  am 
born  of  Love,  and  none  can  resist  Love;  and 
the  great  tender  earth,  thy  mother,  is  nourished 
by  the  great  Love  which  is  the  creator  of  thee 
and  me.  O  fair  and  sweet  companion,  my 
earthly  armour  that  I  love,  thou  and  I  together 
may  reach  beyond  where  we  stand  reluctantly 
and  defiantly!  Gaze  on  me,  thy  soul,  who 
giveth  radiance  to  thee  and  beauty  to  thine  eye, 
and  dost  attend  all  that  is  lovable  unto  thee! 
Gaze  at  me,  and  even  that  which  is  earthly  will 
partake  of  me  and  become  more  of  heaven 
than  of  earth ! 

"And  so  we  will  wander  in  joy  through  life ; 
and  who  knows  but  that  even  the  flowers 
may  grow  sweeter  for  our  having  dwelt  here? 
If  we  but  look  upward,  thou  following  me, 
and  I,  though  loving  thee  much,  yet  yielding 
225 


MESSAGES  AND  REVELATIONS 

not  to  thy  sweet  persuasive  pleadings  and 
downward  looking,  who  knows  but  we  may 
heal  those  who,  even  like  thee,  do  cry  out 
against  the  non-adjustment  of  the  body  and 
the  soul,  who,  even  like  thee,  have  known  soul- 
hunger  and  soul-starvation,  which  disease 
driveth  out  of  the  body  all  its  softness  and 
smoothness,  and  even  casteth  a  shadow  on  the 
soul  which  should  never  he  shadowed,  lest  it 
loseth  the  sight  of  the  home  where  light  alone 
doth  dwell  and  love  alone  doth  reign." 

The  voice  ceased.  A  great  tenderness,  an  un- 
bounded beauty  shone  on  the  face  of  the 
fleshly  one,  and  turning  from  the  deep  silence 
that  rolled  at  her  feet,  the  woman  gave  a  glad 
look  at  the  stars,  which  once  again  adorned  her 
sky  and  flitted  away  with  a  ringing  laugh. 

The  Soul  echoed  her  joy,  and  the  world 
looked  on  amazed — for  naught  is  there  as  rare 
in  life  as  a  happy,  joyous  woman. 


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